How Do They Know??

  Just down the shoreline a bit from the Little Bayou House is my cousin's house.  She has an impeccable yard with some of the finest grass around.  All of the beautiful lawn is one of the drawing factors of some friends of hers....that an a hefty helping of corn.  Michelle has been feeding the geese for a few years now.  Twice a day, geese will fly over the Bayou on their way to her house.  There, they feast on whatever she puts out for them, drink from the small wading pool of fresh water, munch a bit of that green, green grass and generally just hang out a bit.  After their refreshments, the geese take off for parts unknown.  The group divides and heads in different directions but one group of about thirty fly over our place as they head northeast.

  When she first started putting out food, just a couple of geese stopped in to visit. The numbers grew over the years until now she has well over sixty of her fine feathered friends to feed.  My pondering is how?  How do geese put out the word that there is free food at her house?  These geese come in from all over the place.  They do not live near here.  Some even fly all the way across the Bay to dine in her back yard.  So...do the geese honk loud enough that the neighboring geese get the idea and come?  Then, do those let others know?  There has to be some method of communication going on here for the geese to get the word of free food and come flying from all directions at the same time each day.  I am confused.

  Michelle is one of those folks who can befriend just about any critter alive.  She feeds them all from alligators to deer...from coons to birds...every critter is welcome at her place.  Still...how in the world do the critters know??