A Sand County Almanac

The first time I read A Sand County Almanac, a passage about wild geese returning in the spring stood out to me. While I only knew geese as pests, being required to constantly clean their fecal matter off the beach at work, I was surprised to read such a glorified passage about the birds. “Our geese are home again!” Leopold proclaims, and refers to their clamorous return as “a wild poem dropped from the murky skies upon the muds of March.” In this essay, the return of the geese to Leopold’s farm represent the beginning of spring; they are a lively and happy reminder of the changing seasons. Leopold watches them “tumble out of the sky like maple leaves” and sympathizes with the “lone honkers,” those geese that lost their families over the winter. His love for the birds is seen as Leopold measures “the amplitude of our spring…by the number of geese that stop.” Leopold returns to write about geese in several more passages, referring to their “enthusiasm for high water” in “this new and watery world”; their solitude, “who have seen more kinds and degrees of aloneness than I have”; their sounds in the early morning, “invisible, but coming on.” Leopold keeps returning to the subject of goose migration and their presence on his farm, showing that the bird is an important species within his landscape.

In addition to writing about geese, Leopold writes about the rough-legged hawk, woodcock, upland plover, field sparrow, robin, indigo bunting, oriole, wren, wood duck, ruffed grouse, partridge, chickadee, and barred owl. There are numerous small references to birds in all seasons on Leopold’s farm, showing that they play an important part in the sights and sounds of the territory. In one passage, Leopold describes a river landscape as “a painting so evanescent that it is seldom viewed at all, except by some wandering deer.” In comparing the scene to a painting, Leopold writes “The work begins with a broad ribbon of silt brushed thinly on the sand of a receding shore. As this dries slowly in the sun, goldfinches bathe in its pools, and deer, herons, killdeers, raccoons, and turtles cover it with a lacework of tracks.” In this passage, several bird species are painted onto the landscape; they become an integral part of the environment and scenery. The same is true with birds throughout A Sand County Almanac. Birds appear in the text during each season that Leopold writes about; their appearance, movement, and sound are all vital to Leopold’s experience in nature.

Leopold also explores the relationship of birds to humans. In an essay titled “65290,” Leopold describes a specific chickadee that he caught and tagged. The chickadee returned to Leopold’s farm for five winters. In this example of ornithological study, Leopold tries to understand the chickadee’s role in the surrounding environment. Leopold becomes attached to the chickadee in a way that humans become attached to their pets; each winter, he wonders if the bird will return. When Leopold concludes the essay, saying that the chickadee has moved on, he writes “And I hope that he still wears my band.” This sentence shows that Leopold has formed a connection with the chickadee; his attachment to the bird is evident in his concern for the bird and his memories of it. Other essays also explore human connections to birds; in an essay titled “Red Lanterns,” Leopold describes partridge hunting. Through hunting, a different form of “birdwatching,” Leopold is able to connect both with the partridge and with the surrounding environment that he and his dog explore. When describing the stream where he hunts, Leopold writes, “No partridge can long absent himself from such a place, nor can I.” Though Leopold is hunting the bird, he also explores connections between himself and the bird, particularly in terms of connection to landscape. In each passage Leopold writes about birds, he is examining the role that the birds play within the landscape on his farm and why such interactions are notable or important to him.

When Leopold writes about the rough-legged hawk, he says “The rough-leg has no opinion why grass grows, but he is well aware that snow melts in order that hawks may again catch mice. He came down out of the Arctic in the hope of thaws, for to him a thaw means freedom from want and fear.” In this simple passage, Leopold is describing a cycle of nature he has witnessed on his farm. The hawk hunts for mice instinctually; in this case, nature does not need a reason to function but does so out of necessity. Leopold, too, “has no opinion why grass grows”, but he recognizes that the birds are an integral part of his landscape. When describing the return of geese to his farm, Leopold writes, “What a dull world if we knew all about geese!” Leopold does not need to know the reasons for the actions of birds, but he is content to observe them and know that they are there. On “misty-autumn daybreaks,” Leopold notes that “what one remembers is the invisible hermit thrush pouring silver chords from impenetrable shadows; the soaring crane trumpeting from behind a cloud; the prairie chicken booming from the mists of nowhere; the quail’s Ave Maria in the hush of dawn.” Birds and bird-song are a central part of Leopold’s environment; they stand out for him in his experience and in his memory.