Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Snow Geese in a Snow Storm. Winter's Last Gasp?

I thought winter had finally moved on. Most of the snow had melted and I had watched Robins forage on the bare ground and listened to the first Song Sparrows. On the two previous  evenings a Woodcock had sounded his peenting call late into the night.

This morning I decided to take my dog to the West River Trail and check out the Snow Geese that had been reported on the large stubble field next to the river. The sky was overcast. Just as I got into the car the first snow flakes landed on the windshield. I drove off anyway. When I arrived the flakes were coming down more heavily. Still I could see the Snow Geese, along with some Canada Geese,  foraging on some dung piles on the field. But soon visibility decreased and taking photos became more difficult. When I got home I decided the shots were pretty worthless unless I used some filters  to bring out the details.

The geese were mostly adult whites with a couple of immatures mixed in, distinguished by the gray feathers on their back and a darker beak.











The spring migration north is much more protracted than the one in the fall, when geese gather at a staging area to fly south. Here is a link to a post I did on the fall migration two years ago.


Here also is a link to the Woodcock's courting song and flight which I recorded last March along with a link to photos of his courting ritual showing him slowly turning in a circle while peenting in every direction.

Visit World Bird Wednesday at The Pine River Review to see many more photos of birds from around the world!

27 comments:

  1. Nice! Snowy snow geese... I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow you have all the luck. I wish I could believe you about the last snow. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Picture of bird in snow storm looks like painting! Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Snow really makes getting detail photos difficult. Try your camera on manual exposure to change the look.

    I love the series. My bird this week was also the snow geese.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That snow "beautifies the feathered ones" greatly. (I'm into Shakespeare at the minute :-)
    Wonderfully arty images of these geese.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is a very nice set of photos. I like what ten snow are doing with these pictures. Like your blog and if you do not mind, you have got a new follower.
    Have a nice day.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice photos. With an extra hot day predicted for SE Queensland, Australia I wouldn't mind seeing a few snow flakes right now :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. They are such a lovely creatures and your photos are superb!

    ReplyDelete
  9. OH what I'd give--Ive yet to see a snow goose-You really had some snow coming down..hope thats the last of it for you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful images Hilke. A snowy scene with beautiful snowy birds. Lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Hilke. Difficult conditions ... snow and Snow Geese. I find manual focus works best when the flakes are falling. FAB.

    ReplyDelete
  12. As we see with your beautiful images Hilke, a creative mind can overcome and make something compelling out of even the most difficult conditions!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I really love these images..soft and artsy. But enough snow already..you all have had too much! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love these snowy images - they look like paintings!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi there - thanks for visting my blog (and keep an eye out for next weeks bird!)

    I really like the 'paint' like aspects of the pictures are great.

    Cheers - Stewart M

    ReplyDelete
  16. Tehy don´t seem to be bothered much by the storm.

    Your photos looks like paintings. Don´t know if it is edited or if it is SOOC, but I like it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks the links to your past posts. I will check them both out. I have only seen Canadian Geese. Love learning more about birds on my "To See" list.

    As someone already said: Snow Geese while it is snowing photos are Cool!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I like it-the effect reminds me of an old painting,I don't know what's up with Snow geese lately.We've been getting a lot of them in CT lately.I saw three of them today while at work.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Let`s hope it IS winters last gasp,your photos do look like they could be painted into pictures,beautiful!phyllis

    ReplyDelete
  20. Where esle would snow geese be but in the snow! Perfect! We had a few flakes falling like feathers today but finally it has stopped and now the sun is peeking through to tease us!

    ReplyDelete
  21. It's tough to get a sharp photo when everything is blurred by snow! Waterfowl should be a sign of impending spring, but sometimes they push it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. ...really cool images!! I don't think this winter is every going to let up. We have inches of snow predicted for tonight. I hope then it will be winter's last gasp!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  23. My HUGE thanks to everyone for your comments! They are helpful and great motivation for me to continue in the direction I have taken.

    Although snow was again in the forecast it did NOT arrive, not a single flake :-)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Hilke

    I have to echo the other comments
    I love the painterly aspect of the photos. Also the link to the woodcock was great you keep posting photos of birds I really aspire to see. It does motivate me to see more.

    Thanks Guy

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.