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Snow Geese at Middle Creek | March 8, 2010 |
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Having had such an enjoyable time at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, Pennsylvania, last year, Sue and I anticipated returning this year.
This year's snowy weather delayed the return of the snow geese, but by the beginning of last week, the number of geese was said to be around 20,000. By Friday, the estimate increased to 45,000. On Saturday, a birder reported that there were probably 60,000 snow geese. Sue and I went on Sunday, yesterday, and it seemed to me that there was probably the same number as last year (80,000), although Sue thought it was somewhat less.
There was some ice on the sides of the lake, and a large number of geese were walking around on it.
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There were also several swarm (or goosestorm) formations, and the photo below shows the start of it.
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Depending on how the video turns out, I hope to have a few clips on my site in the next week or two, as well as more photos.
Photo note: I used a Pentax K20D, with the SMC-DA 55-300mm lens for these photos, taken on 7 March 2010. |
Snow geese video: Brief swarm (1.6 megs) | Complex swarm (8 megs)
Snow geese photos: Two favorites
MIDDLE CREEK 2009
Snow geese video: Flyby (3.8 megs) | Swarm (15 megs)
Snow geese photos: Incoming! | Swarm sequence | Bands
My Pennsylvania bird list | Snow geese and Blue snow geese closeups