GO, GEESE!: McKean County has virtually
exploded with the sights and sounds of spring!

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Let’s start with the geese.[neWLine]

Valerie Meacham e-mailed us a week ago about a large flock of
geese winging its way northward near the Bradford mall parking
lot.[neWLine]

“”Our dog started barking at the sky and, lo and behold,
there was a huge flock of geese heading towards Limestone. First
big flock we have seen so far this year,”” she tells
us.

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John DePetro caught sight of geese Wednesday morning while
walking on the B&O tracks east of Bingham. “”I spotted a flock
of over 50 geese headed north. They were in a straight line and
honking up a storm.[neWLine]

“”Like to see them headed north instead of the other
way.””[neWLine]

Another excited announcement came from N. O’Rourke in the
Rasselas area on Thursday.[neWLine]

“”Saw two large flocks of geese flying over … another sign of
spring coming!””[neWLine]

Two of our reporters – Merrill Gonzalez and Tammy Miles – were
also ear- and (eye- ) witnesses to the northern migration. “”When I
got to my door I heard ‘honk-honk,’ looked up and there were three
geese flying north!”” Merrill tells us.[neWLine]

Kim Kohler had two pair of Canada geese in her front pasture one
day last week.[neWLine]

Finally (for today), Ed Greek of East Bradford phoned Thursday
to report about a half dozen geese on his lawn and
pond.[neWLine]

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AND ROBINS: Not to be outdone by these early birds, the
robins are also on their way back. Kim Young writes, “”Just wanted
to let you know that I saw not one robin, but 20 of them in one
spot in Lewis Run. They were next to the Boro Building on Thursday
morning. That is a real good sign that spring is here, right along
with the thunderstorm early Friday morning.””

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LOOK UP!: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s – no,
wait. It is a plane!

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About the same time of our geese reports, Ken Cogan of Crosby
phoned to tell us about seeing a tanker plane and three small jets
flying around in circles for an extended period of time. Ken
theorized the planes were practicing re-fueling operations, an
activity not uncommon in the eastern part of McKean County.