Geese...

Every day on the farm a pair of geese fly over and land either in the neighbors field or by the creek at the bottom of the hill.

Their approach is heralded by honks back and forth as they argue over where to eat lunch.

I hadn't heard them for the past couple days and thought nothing of it, until we found this.

We don't know what he or she died from.  

Though the feathers are ruffled from the rain, it was completely un-marred, with no sign of sickness or injury.

Finding it saddened me greatly because geese mate for life.

They will grieve, sometimes for days over their lost companions.

Sometimes they will mate with another goose, but sometimes they never mate again.

I didn't hear this goose's mate crying, or see it circling the hill again and again, so my hope is that it will mate again.

Whether it will bring its new mate back here to the farm only time will tell.