Well, the last time we went to Henderson there were no geese in the air, but quite a few on the ground. This time was the opposite! A huge swarm was "flowing" overhead.....
.....literally filling the sky at times, and this is just the number that fits in one shot.
They kept flying closer and eventually I could pick out the white color of the Snow Geese.
Right over my head at this time! I took lots of shots but they all look pretty much the same.
They don't seem to have a "leader" when they are in these huge numbers and just flow all over the place with little formation. I guess they know what they are doing.
The white Snow Geese stand out so well and I can tell that some are the dark version by their white heads. I'm sure there are White-Fronted Geese mixed in there, too, but at this distance, I can't tell for sure.
When the spread out more, it is like watching sky writing and patterns being drawn in the sky :-)
....a loop here, a swirl there....
Occasionally a more normal looking V shape appeared or a lot of straight lines.
A friend who lives in Henderson said they saw about 6000 geese there over the weekend! I don't think we saw that many, but I have a video at the end that gives a better look at the huge number we did see. Mike thinks that next time we need to go later in the day. Of course that means the light won't be as good for photos.
We spotted this Kestrel up on the wire, but just as I snapped, he took off. He kept moving along the wire and we kept creeping up trying to go by.....frustrating him, I'm sure. We were actually trying to see this group of birds below....
This group of water birds frustrated me! I took a dozen photos, but none are any better focused than this. I have no idea what they are other then something in the Sandpiper family....I think! Grey backs, white bellies, longish bills that you can see if you zoom in a bit more. Sort of a dark stripe through the eye area.
A couple Killdeer were in the same area, but their stripes make them easy to ID.
In a distant tree we could see a large bird. When I zoom in on this I think I can see the white head of an eagle. My friend said they saw an eagle with the geese on the weekend, so I'm sure this must be it.
This was my best video of them huge swarm.
.....literally filling the sky at times, and this is just the number that fits in one shot.
They kept flying closer and eventually I could pick out the white color of the Snow Geese.
Right over my head at this time! I took lots of shots but they all look pretty much the same.
They don't seem to have a "leader" when they are in these huge numbers and just flow all over the place with little formation. I guess they know what they are doing.
The white Snow Geese stand out so well and I can tell that some are the dark version by their white heads. I'm sure there are White-Fronted Geese mixed in there, too, but at this distance, I can't tell for sure.
When the spread out more, it is like watching sky writing and patterns being drawn in the sky :-)
....a loop here, a swirl there....
Occasionally a more normal looking V shape appeared or a lot of straight lines.A friend who lives in Henderson said they saw about 6000 geese there over the weekend! I don't think we saw that many, but I have a video at the end that gives a better look at the huge number we did see. Mike thinks that next time we need to go later in the day. Of course that means the light won't be as good for photos.
We spotted this Kestrel up on the wire, but just as I snapped, he took off. He kept moving along the wire and we kept creeping up trying to go by.....frustrating him, I'm sure. We were actually trying to see this group of birds below....
This group of water birds frustrated me! I took a dozen photos, but none are any better focused than this. I have no idea what they are other then something in the Sandpiper family....I think! Grey backs, white bellies, longish bills that you can see if you zoom in a bit more. Sort of a dark stripe through the eye area.
A couple Killdeer were in the same area, but their stripes make them easy to ID.
In a distant tree we could see a large bird. When I zoom in on this I think I can see the white head of an eagle. My friend said they saw an eagle with the geese on the weekend, so I'm sure this must be it.This was my best video of them huge swarm.
%2B(2).jpg)
13 comments:
Great post Mary. I love the video...reminds me of my old home. We never had White-fronted Geese bu lots of Snow and Canada.
Love to watch geese flying, and that is a LOT of geese!
Thats a lot of Geese Hope you were not underneath them. I bet that was a real good sight. and thanks for the short vid.
All those geese are very impressive.I wonder how many times they touch wings as they fly around.:)
Blessings,Ruth
What an amazing number of geese. Where we live, in central B.C., we only sleep small flocks at a time ... never in such numbers.
I don't know which is most impressive -- the picture of the eagle or the huge number of geese. What a fascinating experience this visit must have been.
Now thats a LOT of Geese! WOW!
WOW!I envy you your geese spectacle Mary. I think the sounds made are as good as seeing them. I can't help with the mystery waders (shorebirds). Did you get any sort of idea of size? Robin sized, or smaller or larger?
Wow! I have never seen a huge flock of geese before. I only see the same Canada geese who don't even bother to migrate any more from urban areas.
I can't imagine that many birds, and no mid air collisions.
You got a good video, and I hope your lens was still clean when you got through. LOL
B.
Thanks everyone....it's really cool having all these migrating geese come and spend the winter in the area. I'm always amazed by the number. Good thing we went yesterday, because it rained all day today. I still want some ground photos eventually. We'll probably go over there at least once a week. Try different times of the day and see if we get better results.
Jenny: The waders seemed about the same size as the Killdeer...maybe a bit larger. They just sat there in that one area...looked like they were grooming.
George: we were surprised to see the eagle, even if he was far away, although this isn't real far from where we watched them nest last spring and we had heard there was another nest in this area, but never saw it.
Seeing those geese in those huge numbers is totally awesome, Mary.... Neat-neat-neat...
Hugs
Betsy
Now I know where all 'my' geese went...they came down to your house! I am still not seeing any...I don't think we have these numbers when they are here, but there is usually more than enough to satisfy me.
Post a Comment