When Snow Geese take to the air, they are so packed together it seems like they won't have room enough to fly.
Our senses were unprepared, yet delighted, for the numbers and the noise of Snow Geese as they took to the air as a flock. I have tried to present photos and videos that give you an inkling of what we experienced.
An aerial view would have shown how crowded the Snow Geese were.
This next video has a surprise at the end, if you dare to watch the whole minute. :)
enlarge A Snow Goose as an individual in flight.
An individual Snow Goose on the ground with some of what it is eating.
A small section of a field filled with Snow Geese
From a distance you can see even more of the field, but this is still only about half of the field.
Where is parking space for me?
Here is a series showing how Snow Geese fill the air at different times of day.
A shot showing the sun’s reflection on a few of the Snow Geese. enlarge
enlarge A close look at how they can fly even when crowded by others.
Later in the day.
Don’t bother to count them.
The noise is something you can imagine if you watched the videos. enlarge
A sky full of Snow Geese
The field emptied and this is a small group flying away in the sunset.
Now on to another bird that congregates in huge numbers, the Dunlin.
These two videos were taken during very cold and wintery conditions. The sound you hear is the wind.
An individual Dunlin feeding in an intertidal mud flat.
A Dunlin (with the white underparts) feeding with Long-billed Dowitchers. Compare the sizes and markings. enlarge
Some Dunlin in flight photos.
My purpose in this Dawn Chorus was to give you a small sense of Ms. JG’s and my wonder at seeing such enormous numbers of two kinds of birds. I hope you get to see this in person. Coots form large rafts in our local waters, numbering in the thousands. Here are just two bonus photos of how they group together.
Coots escaping from an eagle attack. enlarge
A small part of a flock of Coots being chased by an otter. enlarge
Now it’s your turn to add comments and photos — with large numbers of birds or individual birds. Sharing is the name of the game. Let’s see how big of a flock of comments we can get!
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