Party Hardy

"Tis the season to be jolly," and these guys make sure that there is a party every single night in my neck of the woods.  They fly in with the setting sun filling the skies with laughter and 'quackling'.  They are a rowdy crowd full of high energy and impossible to ignore.   "Let's get this happy hour going," they say as their feet slap the surface of the water and they skid to a stop just breaking the landing speed limit that has been set for this end of the river.  There must be no landing rules in Canada from whence they came.

Each group gathers in little pockets staking their claim to that section of the river and they begin immediately with honking noises to catch up with their nearby mates on whatever has happened elsewhere during the day.  The chatter is deafening and one wonders how anyone can hear anyone else.  Like big Italian families or large Chinese gatherings at the dinner table, they all talk at once and yet all seem to understand each other, or perhaps they are actually ignoring each other.

It doesn't take long for the guys to spot the gaggle of females on the other side of the river calmly preening their feathers into place.  The males' jokes get louder and more disgusting and the laughter carries far over the water in the formerly quiet early evening disturbing all others who have begun to snuggle in for the night.

The gals laugh just a little in the golden setting sun and undulate a little straining to meet up but also taking their time.  After all, this happy hour lasts until the wee hours of the morning.  It is often that I sit up from my bed in the dark night wondering what hilarious joke was told that so suddenly filled my bedroom with that loud honking laughter.  They do know how to have a good time but as lovely as they are, I don't really miss them when this 'spring break' comes to an end and they leave to return to their mating grounds.  I can only guess how noisy it gets there!