The vineyards can be a very peaceful place.
They can be noisy as well.
Like each spring when these travellers pass through the lands of Champagne on their way north.
They call out for each other to stay in line and on track and it is these cries we hear deep under. Very similar to the noise of the geese in the village.
Another reminder for us that spring is on its way. Another brief glance into the fascinating habits of nature. These birds travel thousands of kilometers between the place where they breed and the place they spend winter and they do it twice per year.
One of their big stops - a bit like Alsace for Danish campers heading to Southern France in the summer - is the Lac de Der in Southern Champagne. People go there to watch birds. The lake is a big artificial reservoir of water, it collects water from the river Marne to avoid floodings. Now the Lac de Der is a pleasure lake with all sorts of sports linked with water, and also a big place to watch birds.
It's amazing that these birds, genetically programmed to certain already amazing behaviours, apparantly are able to change location when something better shows up. Since the lake was created in the 1980'es it has developped into a big place to observe and count the birds. Ten thousands of these birds spend winter at the Lac rather than move further south as other of their kin.
This group is on the way up north. Maybe, at some stage they will rest in Utterslev Mose in Copenhagen, another big spot for geese otherwise on their wings.
Maybe they'll choose to hang around a while as they learn about the recent snow in Denmark?
We'll recognice their squawking anytime.
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