Al Hansen
Well-known member
Yesterday I decided to take a break and drive to Bosque del Apache NWR. I figured that if I was really lucky I might get to see some cinnamon teal in their Spring courtship flights. Well, I quickly found out that most of the ducks had left however as I drove down and around the south loop road I was rewarded with a flock of close to 500 snows. Well after closer inspection I quickly revised that to approximately 95% Ross' and 5% snows. I have never seen a flock down here this late for this time of the year. Boy, now if this is something that is a learned trait how about light geese who hang around down here and don't head north until the Spring season for them is over. Tim was right. They deserve the doctoral degree for waterfowl brains.
There was a good wind out of the south/southwest and I noticed how they wanted to hang out close to the road that I was on. I decided to get out of my truck and sit on the gravel road with my back up against the left front tire of my F-250. That made a great support and it was comfortable other than the fact that I was sitting in some goose droppings. Oh well!
Al
Cleared for final approach, snow.
If you have ever had the opportunity to observe light geese you will have seen total chaos turn to serenity in a matter of seconds. Almost unbelievable but true.
Mirror, mirror on the wall---who is the fairest one of all?
Once a flock settles in it is very interesting how family units get together if still possible at this time of the year. I watched this pair of snows with 2 of their youngsters.
One doesn't get to see this too often but here is a pair of Ross' geese with their blue phase youngster. I wished they would have come closer so I possibly could have zoomed in to look at the upper mandible of the blue phase to see if it had any tell tale warts. Maybe it was a Ross'/snow hybrid? It is very small, however.
Here in the foreground is an adult Ross' goose with a juvenile lesser snow in the background.
Hey, Trip, did you send this speck over here from Arkansas?
Juvenile blue phase of the snow. Some day it might be one of those beautiful blues that we call an "eagle head".
With the smoke cleared and my Canon still hanging around my neck I took a quick look at the number of clicks taken and it was a touch over 1,000. These shots represent almost half of what I kept--4%.
There was a good wind out of the south/southwest and I noticed how they wanted to hang out close to the road that I was on. I decided to get out of my truck and sit on the gravel road with my back up against the left front tire of my F-250. That made a great support and it was comfortable other than the fact that I was sitting in some goose droppings. Oh well!
Al
Cleared for final approach, snow.
If you have ever had the opportunity to observe light geese you will have seen total chaos turn to serenity in a matter of seconds. Almost unbelievable but true.
Mirror, mirror on the wall---who is the fairest one of all?
Once a flock settles in it is very interesting how family units get together if still possible at this time of the year. I watched this pair of snows with 2 of their youngsters.
One doesn't get to see this too often but here is a pair of Ross' geese with their blue phase youngster. I wished they would have come closer so I possibly could have zoomed in to look at the upper mandible of the blue phase to see if it had any tell tale warts. Maybe it was a Ross'/snow hybrid? It is very small, however.
Here in the foreground is an adult Ross' goose with a juvenile lesser snow in the background.
Hey, Trip, did you send this speck over here from Arkansas?
Juvenile blue phase of the snow. Some day it might be one of those beautiful blues that we call an "eagle head".
With the smoke cleared and my Canon still hanging around my neck I took a quick look at the number of clicks taken and it was a touch over 1,000. These shots represent almost half of what I kept--4%.
