Geese at Goose Lake!

This is a picture of Canada geese hanging out at...Goose Lake! Appropriate, I reckon. Goose Lake is located on the California-Oregon border just south of Lakeview, Oregon. I guess the lake was visible from the town at the time it was named; it's not now as the lake has apparently receded since the 19th century. But it's still rather extensive, though only nine feet deep on average. Goose Lake has a history of fluctuation. During the last 150 years it's been much larger than it is now, and it's also dried up completely, as recently as 1992. Some water that previously flowed into it is now diverted for agriculture, so the lake will probably never rise too much higher than it is today.

Here the lake's former shoreline is visible, a good mile from the current water's edge in many places.