Early-morning walk

Canada geese with goslings. Canada geese without goslings. All talking to each other, feathered foghorns in the mist. A pair of young swans; they are not nesting and sleep in a different place each night, but they are a couple, the male making a heart of his wings. A cloud of tiny plovers scooping low over the still water. And two young deer, cropping reeds and grass. We stood quiet and watched them all, then retreated from the beach and left them to their morning.