Typically these Russian geese start to arrive for the winter sometime towards the end of Oct. I think the total number for this year was about 80,000. Late Nov. the bulk of them head further south into Northern Washington state around Mount Vernon, less than 100 miles as the goose flies.
There is a bit of flitting back and forth but numbers around the mouth of the Fraser River start to rise again in late Feb to March.
This small flock hit a snow storm a few weeks ago.
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Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
R5, 700mm, f/8, 1/2500, ISO 1600
You really have your own style, David, instantly recognizable. We get one or two stragglers from Russia every winter; wish we got this number. Well done for not waking them up. I’d like this one on my wall!
David, the pano with the line of geese looks very good. Viewing the large version is fun because of the way that the heads, tails and legs of the geese stand out from all of the whiteness.
This is terrific. And isn’t it amazing that one is keeping lookout? Everytime I see a herd of geese there is at least one keeping watch (yes, I know it’s a flock, but herd is funnier), turkeys do it, too. Well done all around.
Thanks everyone for your comments. You can’t quite tell from this size of photo but most of these geese have an eye open. They are on the look out for the many eagles in the area. One eagle on a casual flyby will put thousands of these geese in the air squawking and honking and flapping.
A few years ago i was out for a walk, about the same time of year, and there was a small flock of 3 or 4 hundred geese in this field. An eagle flew down from a near by tree zeroed in on one of the geese now trying to escape. there was a bit of a chase, eagle caught the goose and knocked it down onto the filed and sat on it for a few minutes. Then the eagle picked the goose up and flew to and landed on an old timber piling beside the river. There was some calling back and forth with another eagle up by their nest. I continued my walk right by the eagle and goose. All I had was a phone camera. As I got to my car I turned around. The eagle let go of the goose and flew off. The goose landed in the water and began to swim away. I guess the hormones were running and the eagles were getting ready to feed the young when they arrived. I don’t know what happened with the goose after that.
