I finally met another blogger! Dee and Mike ....from Mike and D's Life in the Hoosier State and Beyond...drove down from Indianapolis to see the snow geese in Henderson, Ky.
It was so good to meet one of the people who visit my blog and who have become friends on-line. And what really nice people they are! After lunch and some time to get to know each other, we headed to the Henderson Slough. I was a bit worried that they would drive all the way down here and the geese would not show up.....
....no problem! We no sooner got to the fields and we knew we were in luck! Thousands of Snow Geese were resting between the rows of corn in the flooded fields. The most we have seen this year so far. (I should have made it clear that this is just one row of the geese. There are more between every section of corn)
What a sight! Immediately we were all out getting out our cameras and getting shots.
Mike (the Indy one, not my Mike ) focused and clicking away. I can't wait to see his photos, because he is a much better photographer than I am. Since they had to drive back to Indy afterwards, I don't know how soon they will get their photos up, but be sure to watch for them!
I was amazed at one point to realize just how close the Ohio River is to that field! That is a tug boat pushing a barge up the river. I thought the river was a mile or two away......instead it looks like the barge is right in the corn field.
Don't know if it was the barge or the photographers or who knows what.....but suddenly they all decided to take to the air. My first shot is a too light, but that was the "lift off: moment.
Suddenly the air was being filled with 1000's of geese!
Even though I am poor at air shots, with that many, I couldn't help but get a few in focus :-)
They circled around a bit and then headed across the road to a different field.
The numbers just boggle my mind!
They settled back down at more of a distance, but all that white just stands out against the dark trees.
Another air shot. Small groups continued to go back and forth the rest of the afternoon.
Later in the afternoon as the sun was going down, they crossed over again and the light was good on the corn. I'll have to remember that time of day the next time we go. We were there between 2 and 4PM. This is a Greater White Fronted Goose coming down. I was hoping to get shots of all the phases of the Snow Geese.....There are white adults and dark adults that have a white head. Then there are juveniles of both kinds, giving a total of 4 color combos. Both adults types were obvious, but I don't think I saw juveniles for both. Hard to tell with all those grey White Front Geese mixed in.
As you can see, there were Mallards hanging around with them, also.
This is a group of the Greater White Fronted Geese.
The Snow Geese really stand out in the air when sunlit.
I liked this line with several variations in it.
I was trying to identify these ducks....Shovelers, I believe...and you can see the Snow Geese lined up along the top of the photo.
In another field, my Sandpipers are still there and I still didn't get a very good shot. One of these days.....
It was so good to meet one of the people who visit my blog and who have become friends on-line. And what really nice people they are! After lunch and some time to get to know each other, we headed to the Henderson Slough. I was a bit worried that they would drive all the way down here and the geese would not show up.....
....no problem! We no sooner got to the fields and we knew we were in luck! Thousands of Snow Geese were resting between the rows of corn in the flooded fields. The most we have seen this year so far. (I should have made it clear that this is just one row of the geese. There are more between every section of corn)
What a sight! Immediately we were all out getting out our cameras and getting shots.
Mike (the Indy one, not my Mike ) focused and clicking away. I can't wait to see his photos, because he is a much better photographer than I am. Since they had to drive back to Indy afterwards, I don't know how soon they will get their photos up, but be sure to watch for them!
I was amazed at one point to realize just how close the Ohio River is to that field! That is a tug boat pushing a barge up the river. I thought the river was a mile or two away......instead it looks like the barge is right in the corn field.
Don't know if it was the barge or the photographers or who knows what.....but suddenly they all decided to take to the air. My first shot is a too light, but that was the "lift off: moment.
Suddenly the air was being filled with 1000's of geese!
Even though I am poor at air shots, with that many, I couldn't help but get a few in focus :-)
They circled around a bit and then headed across the road to a different field.
The numbers just boggle my mind!
They settled back down at more of a distance, but all that white just stands out against the dark trees.
Another air shot. Small groups continued to go back and forth the rest of the afternoon.
Later in the afternoon as the sun was going down, they crossed over again and the light was good on the corn. I'll have to remember that time of day the next time we go. We were there between 2 and 4PM. This is a Greater White Fronted Goose coming down. I was hoping to get shots of all the phases of the Snow Geese.....There are white adults and dark adults that have a white head. Then there are juveniles of both kinds, giving a total of 4 color combos. Both adults types were obvious, but I don't think I saw juveniles for both. Hard to tell with all those grey White Front Geese mixed in.
As you can see, there were Mallards hanging around with them, also.
This is a group of the Greater White Fronted Geese.
The Snow Geese really stand out in the air when sunlit.
I liked this line with several variations in it.
I was trying to identify these ducks....Shovelers, I believe...and you can see the Snow Geese lined up along the top of the photo.
In another field, my Sandpipers are still there and I still didn't get a very good shot. One of these days.....It was fantastic to get to meet Dee and Mike and I'm glad the geese cooperated and showed up! What a day it was! Anyone else want to come to Henderson and see geese? I can't promise anything, but they hang around until March.
(I forgot to mention that Mike and Dee left us a great tin of Christmas cookies....yum!)
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18 comments:
Stunning shots there Mary!
There it goes too to show patience is a vertue, they will always come back, they fly all the way from Canada to a place called Whichurch on the welsh border to england. the lake there is teaming with the canadian geese. year after year they come back, and thanks for sharing those wonderfull shots.
What a wonderful experienc to share. I actually like the first flight photo best of all with the reflection of the geese in the water giving it that certain sort of something.
All those Geese Mary, a truly amazing sight.
Thanks for posting those images.
Steve: thanks...it was great! I wish I was a little taller or had a stepstool to see over the grass at the edge of the field.
Tony: Geese in large numbers are so amazing to see.
Arija: Thanks, but I think the reflections you are talking about are just more of the geese still sitting there :-)
Roy: Thanks....now if I was just as good with my camera as you are I'd have some great air shots. They move too fast for me and I can't keep up and stay focused most of the time.
Now that's a perfect day for a blogger!! Meeting new friends, getting pictures of all those geese and topping it off with Christmas Cookies!!!!!! What could be better????
Your pictures of the geese in flight are absolutely incredible. All your photos are wonderful -- it would be neat to see Henderson in person. We've met blogger friends in person and it is wonderful.
Woah! What an amazing sight, we don't have any white geese over here Mary, except the odd vagrant Snow or Ross's from you. I felt like I was standing next to you taking those flight shots! The noise must've been amazing too!(-:
Your shots are amazing, Mary! I know mine won't be near as good since you have a more powerful zoom than I do. I'm hoping to work on my post this afternoon.
We enjoyed every single minute visiting with you and Mike. So glad the geese joined us! Hope we can get together again. =D
Wonderful shots of the geese, Mary... They put on a real 'show' for your guests... AMAZING--just how many of them there are there...
Glad you got to meet a blog friend. Hope we meet someday.
Hugs,
Betsy
These pictures are amazing.With so many geese in the sky I can't help but wonder how they keep from bumping into each other.If only I live closer I would take you up on that invitation.:)
Blessings,Ruth
Dorothy: You are right..it was a great day!
George: You and Betsy live close enough to come up this way :-) Come on up! The geese will be around until they migrate again. January will be a good month for them still, I'm sure. Will have to check my photos from last year for dates.
Jenny: Yes, even with my poor hearing the noise is amazing...all that flapping and honking! Like a mighty rushing wind when they take off. Mike always comments on the noise.
Lindy: I'm sure your photos will be great too. I took some last year with a camera with less zoom. My videos were so-so, if you have any good videos. We'll need to make this a yearly meeting :-)
Betsy: The numbers are staggering. You don't realize how many are there until they all decide to lift off and fly together! On the ground, they are scattered among many corn rows and other places
What a fantastic day you must have had. Meeting blogger friends and seeing all the geese in the same day. Wow. You got wonderful pictures too. I can't imagine the noise when they take off either.
B.
Becky: It was a very good day :-)
I have not been out to the strip pits in a while...but I still haven't seen any geese here so I really think they have totally by-passed us. Even if they didn't...it isn't like what you show here!
We get a lot of geese here but no where near that many. Great photos. It would be fun to meet other bloggers.
I'm visiting from Mike & D's place, hope you don't mind if I look around a bit. I see squirrels.
Mary: What a find, you certainly get a great amount of waterfowl on your flyway.
Oh, these are wonderful photos and great to see you and Lindy post photos of each other. I was asking her if the one on her blog was of her and so she directed me here to tell me that I'd see her in here.
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