Snow Geese
Back in early December within a mile of my office in Middletown, Delaware, I felt lucky to experience a large flock of snow geese feeding in the farm field for three days before moving on in their migration adventure. With the throes of life at the time, I had gotten lazy in carrying my camera; but as I was arriving towards my office at sunrise, right alongside the huge Amazon.com facility on the farm field I sighted thousands and thousands of snow geese. WOW! I called hubby to see if he had left home (he hadn’t), asked him to grab my camera (he did), and bring it to the office (thanks honey!). I then sat briefly, watching and listening to them before getting to work. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until noon that I got back out with my camera and the snow geese were gone. I was bummed! I ran my errands and headed back to work, when I found a smaller flock had landed across the highway on another farm. I parked the car and got out to take a few shots. The snow geese were noisy and restless.
Thousands of Snow Geese
I don’t know what spooked them but in just a couple minutes they suddenly began to take flight. All of them!
Snow Geese taking flight
I started the muttering we bird photographers do to ‘entice’ our ops to us…..”please come this way, over here, this way, please, PLEASE!”
And so they began heading right towards me. Sometimes it works! 😉
Snow Geese – Here they come!
Snow Geese – Up and over!
Snow Geese
Snow Geese
Snow Geese
The snow geese made the decision to continue to move on instead of circling and relanding where they were as they sometimes do. Something indeed had spooked them. What a sight and noise in the sky!
Snow Geese on the move
The next morning, the snow geese were back but the size of the flock was much smaller. Staying on the ground in the distance didn’t offer much photo ops for that day.
The third day as I arrived into Middletown, the flock was already high in the sky, creating their “V”s while cruising through. I stopped and watched the attached sighting unfold. It appeared a large “V” of snow geese had decided to race a jet.
Snow Geese racing a Jet!
Five photo frames later and the snow geese proved they were faster! 😉
Snow Geese in the lead!
Just a little fun there! 🙂
Those three days were a treat for me, especially since then I’ve not had a chance to get to Blackwater NWR or Bombay Hook to see them. I hope you enjoyed them too. And as always, thank you for stopping by!
Wow, that is a lot of geese! Very cool.
It was very cool, thanks Joleen!
Very nice shots Donna! They call that a Snow Geese “lift off”. It’s always a spectacular sight to see… and to hear! Went to Bombay Hook about a week ago, but no Snow Geese on the refuge… but, there were about 5,000 (a very rough estimate) on a large corn field in MD just over the DE-MD border. Got some lift-off shots at dusk with nice light.
Thanks Steve! Hope you post your Snow Geese shots, bet the lighting was perfect. This past week each morning I’ve seen a large flock of Snow Geese flying high across Route 301 MD heading southeast. I wanted so bad each time to follow them to see where they were landing, wish I could have, but as high as they were, I just knew they were going for a distant place. Never saw any before dusk on return trip home. This morning or evening, no Snow Geese sightings at all, only Canada Geese. They can be so elusive!! LOL
That was a great experience for you to have, Donna. I am jealous, as I have never had that opportunity.
It was and always is to see them when I’m lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Don’t feel jealous, or I’ll have to feel super jealous of what you see daily! 😉
Spectacular pictures! Amazing!
Thanks so much!
Wonderful shots! Hard to believe that 40 years ago the sow geese were close to extinction.
Thanks Jerry! So true….
Very impressive and very noisy! I like the racing photos, and yes, I have sent those thoughts to photo worthy subjects – usually “Don’t move, please.”
Thanks for posting and have a great weekend.
Yes it is/they are! 🙂 When I saw the bird/jet image, I had to play on it. 😉 Had a great weekend, you have a great week Beth!
And your pictures are a treat for me/ us. Thanks
Which is what pleases me the most, sharing with you & others! So glad you enjoyed. 🙂
Good of your husband! I love these shots, especially when I have experienced the excitement of seeing and hearing large flocks during a snow goose chase in the spring-thanks so much for sharing.
You know just how amazing it is, what a thrill it is. Thanks Jane!
Excellent set of pictures.
Thanks Tom!
These are great captures Donna! 🙂
Thanks HJ!
Woweee! Fun!
It was!! 🙂
Wow! Thanks for sharing the images of both the large flocks and the closer-in studies of a few geese against the sky. Magnificent sights!
Thank you so much Martha!
What an incredible experience, thank you so much for sharing!!
Thank you so much,Tom!
Beautiful photo!
Thank you very much and for stopping by!