Lakewood's Geese

I pass by a small lake on my way to my mom's each day and this is home to some 20 or 30 white geese and some 15 to 20 black and white smaller geese. Birmingham has a very temperate climate and these geese do well here.

The gest of this story is the lake is split into and 4th Avenue in Bessemer cuts right through it. The geese like to cross the road during the day and forage on the the other side, presenting a little problem from time to time. Fortunately everyone who travels 4th Avenue know of these geese and are reminded by signs on each side of "drive slowly, geese crossing".

When you approach the lake and if they are ready to cross they will gather at the side of the road with a larger gander sticking his neck out signaling that they need to cross. When both lanes stop, he will honk and all the geese will wobble across the highway, a real treat to see these beautiful birds.

I have been there when they have crossed going each way and the routine is the same. They stay on the far side for 1/2 the day and in the evening it is a replay of the morning routine. We even have some migrating geese that visit from time to time and the lake may have 50 or 60 migrating geese having a ball foraging with their domestic cousins.

We have some wild geese who now for some generation have called Birmingham home. There are several lakes around Birmingham and I have seen these black and gray geese come and go off the local lakes all over Birmingham. These offspring, I guess, have lost the migrating memory as their parents and grandparents have all been here now for generations.

Sometimes traveling I459 North or South they will parallel me as I travel. They fly in the traditonal V formation but only go some 8 to 10 miles back and forth to the various lakes around here in Jefferson county. They are God's creatures and a permanent resident of the county. I hope you get a chance to see them sometimes as they are just beautiful in flight....something inside me feels better when I see them and reminds me HE has HIS hand in this...Thanks..Jeff