Interesting.  My grandfather used to see Walt Whitman riding the bow of the Camden-Philadelphia ferry, sometime in the 1870s.  It seems he got his inspirations from ferry rides.  BTW, his white beard was heavily tobacco-stained.  Yuck!

Paul O'Brien
Rockville, Mont. Co., MD

On Mar 11, 2010, at 12:18:51 PM, "Leo Weigant" <> wrote:

From:   "Leo Weigant" <>
Subject:    Re: [MDOSPREY] Canada Geese on the move
Date:   March 11, 2010 12:18:51 PM EST
To: 
    All these reports prompted me to remember that
    ~ somewhere in the 1850's ~ Walt Whitman, riding the
    Brooklyn Ferry, looked up and expressed almost exactly
    the same feelings we've been sharing as he watched them
    and heard their "wild ya-honk" cries in the evening light.

    We are not alone.

    Leo Weigant



On Mar 11, 2010, at 9:35 AM, Gail Mackiernan wrote:

> These dramatic goose and swan flights make me think -- how many  
> people in
> the DC area heard these geese and looked up? Some folks have gotten so
> removed from nature that they not recognize (or perhaps, even hear)  
> what to
> our ancestors was one of the first harbingers of spring.
>
> Gail Mackiernan
> Colesville, MD
>
> on 03/11/2010 8:40 AM, Carol Jelich at  wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Tuesday afternoon, March 9, the Canada geese on Quarter Creek, off  
>> Wye
>> River, were very vocal.  Around 5:30, late afternoon, they began  
>> to rise up,
>> circle,
>> and form lines, heading north.  As I watched them begin their fly  
>> away, I
>> could see far, far above, other lines of geese headed north that  
>> had started
>> from elsewhere.  Wished them godspeed and safe return next
>> year, a very moving sight!
>>
>> Carol Jelich
>> Queenstown, Maryland