Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/12/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]California's central valley is winter home to millions of waterfowl (no exaggeration). Among the most charismatic of these is the Snow Goose, and the very similar Ross's Goose. The distinction between these two species is the relative size and proportions, best observed when the two are side-by-side. In this photo the immature bird (gray head) is a Snow Goose, and the adult bird is a Ross's Goose: http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/sngo00.jpg Note the ground cover :) During hunting season the geese quickly learn where the protected areas are, or at least the ones who survive learn quickly. During the day, tens or hundreds of thousands of geese rest in the refuge's protected area, and once the sun sets and hunting is over for the day, they fly out of the refuge to the surrounding rice fields en masse to forage. A large flock like this is as nervous as the most nervous member of the flock, so when a "nervous Nellie" goose sounds the alarm over a predator (real or imagined), panic quickly spreads through the flock resulting in winged pandemonium: http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/sngo01.jpg Both photos: R8/DMR, 560mm f/6.8 Telyt, tripod. All comments welcome. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com