"Wa'll, she's goin' to be a hard winter," mused old Sour Dough Pete, as he squinted a pair of pale blue, watery eyes towards the sky. "See them thar Honkers, wall, they're way head of schedule".

And sure enough, far up in the blue, the old familiar wedge-shaped line was moving silently southward. Now and then an eerie call would drift down to us, but for the most part they winged quietly and relentlessly on their way toward warmer climes.

The great Canadian Gray Geese migrate with the seasons, going north in the spring and south in the fall; and they are expected visitors over the park during April and October. But why should they be moving south in September? For several days, now, flock after flock of the great Honkers have been passing over; some flying so low that they have to climb higher when going over the Cascade Divide, and other so high that they are barely visible.

Maybe the infallible instinct which graces all wild life has told of early storms and cold weather in the north, and they have followed Nature's warning by migrating early. Probably old Sour Dough Pete was right when he prophesied a hard winter.