Middle Creek Wildlife Preserve (Sunrise Snow Geese)

snow geese, originally uploaded by Berks_Awhile.

A 4:30AM wake-up was necessary to make the 6:15 sunrise at the Middle Creek Preserve. I drove for 50 minutes, then walked another 1/2 mile up Willow Point trail to the pavilion to join a bunch of fellow snow goose lovers in anticipation of the early show.

The uncanny body clock of these geese set them to flight en mass shortly before the day break. As if a practice flight, they did a large sweeping lap around the skies then back down to the lake.

Another large flock did the same routine, but within a half hour these massive flocks started flying off the lake. An estimated 50,000 geese randomly, yet systematically, flew away from us all over the next 1.5 hours.

Some human-tolerant snow geese paddled to the shore, waddled up the field then began to feed amongst their human admirers. Great portrait opportunities for all of us as well as the ability to observe their feeding behavior.

I finally pulled myself away and headed to the car to warm up my trigger hand and look for some new and different subject matter.

The tour road opened March 1, which has some neat scenery, but little access to the snow geese because almost all lands around the lake are restricted access.

The highlight of the tour road was red-winged blackbirds. Posing in bushes along the road and singing their mating call to lure in a suitor seemed to be their sole focus.

Tired and hungry and home by 10:30 with a very fulfilling photo shoot behind me, I had the afternoon to relax and relive my morning via 600 images and 4 videos. Great day!