I'll be spending the weekend of the 27th and 28th at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (NWR.) The peak of the snow goose winter migration is occurring and there should thousands and thousands of birds at the refuge. The first time I saw a spectacle such as this was at Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico during 2004. The massive groups of geese tend to take flight at the same time. In the above image, a hawk was circling high above. Every time he would approach the field, the geese would blast off and then circle back to land. The blast off became predictable just by watching the hawk. The sound is almost deafening and the sight is amazing. Opportunities exist for numerous photographs using a variety of techniques. The weekend after that I'll be heading north to the Lower Klamath NWR, a major Bald Eagle wintering ground. The numbers of Bald Eagles should peak during January and February. I'm looking forward to coming home with some spectacular images.Below is a video of the "blast off" of snow geese. Be sure to have your volume up! If you hear a sound like drums, those are sandhill cranes mixed in with the geese.
