Watching the Canada Geese Crossing the Road

A pretty stone house in Guelph, Ontario

Since we were in Guelph for three days, we drove around  to explore the city a little bit.

Heffernan Street Footbridge, Guelph, Ontario

Guelph is not a big city; it has about 120,000 residents, but it is a very pretty town indeed!















There are a number of churches in Guelph, some of them are over a hundred thirty years old.












 Considering the fact that Canada itself as a nation is only a hundred forty nine years old, a hundred and thirty years old church is pretty historic for our country!

A scenic view of the river with St. George's Anglican Church in the background,  downtown Guelph, Ontario

Royal City Park, Guelph

After attending the opening ceremony at the Rozanski Hall, we went on foot to explore the area around the University of Guelph.

We walked along Gordon Street heading towards the downtown area.

Guelph holds a very special place in my heart as this was my stomping ground in the 1970's when I was a student attending university here.

As we walked, we tried to take in the scenery of the beautiful houses and  well kept landscape on both sides of the street.

This is an area where university professors and scholars are housed.








After a walk of about twenty minutes on Gordon Street, we came to the Royal City Park.

This park with the beautiful Eramosa  River flowing underneath the bridge has always been my favourtie part of the city.

The geese walked up from the river to dry land

From the other side of the river,  we saw a large flock of Canada Geese, instead of swimming around in the river,  mulling around on dry grassland.

I thought to myself they might be contemplating to do something?

The geese were following their leader closely

We ran across to the other side of the river trying to see what they were doing.

We saw the whole flock following a leader and gathering themselves on the edge of the dry land.

The leader goose decided to cross the road!

The leader goose looked all around, thought for a few seconds, then confidently stepped onto the road!

All the other geese followed the leader

Then all the other geese started to follow this leader goose without any hesitation!

The geese crossed the road orderly

The leader goose kept walking with such confidence that he did not even stop for a second.

He kept charging ahead!

Traffic stopped until all the geese crossed the road safely and completely

All the traffic stopped on both sides of the road! Drivers waiting patiently while pedestrians were delighted and took pictures of this scene!

 There was no angry honks or shouts. Traffic simply stopped for these Canada geese until they crossed the road completely!




I have lived in Canada for over forty years. This was the first time I witnessed a flock of Canada Geese crossing the road on a city street!  It was amazing!

R.T.
Entrance to the Royal City Park
Guelph, Ontario