Snow Geese Blastoff (uncut)

 

Sometimes a video is needed to share the experience, something I have commented on before. To make the still shot work I think a sense of order must be distilled out of the organized chaos of 600,000 or more birds in flight.

Snow Geese at 16K

I just returned from Loess Bluffs NWR at Mound City, MO. and was surprised to learn yesterday's count was about 750,000 geese. However, the biggest surprise was quality of images shot at an ISO of 16,000, almost literally shots in the dark. I moved back to Canon after an experiment with Sony and this was its shakedown visit. Both shots recorded using auto focus.

ISO 16,000, 1/8 sec @ f5.6

ISO 16,000, 1/60 sec @ f4.0

Blast Off!

 

I spent a day with snow geese and put this together. It started in the fog well before sunrise and ended at sunset.  I could still hear them singing when I went to bed that night. Their singing will either drive you nuts or make you forget the world for awhile. Multiple cameras and lenses were used with two cameras simultaneously recording in the fog sequence.

Synchronized Stretch

There are exercise classes everywhere but this was a new one to me.

Explosion in the fog

I heard the geese in the dark as I drove into Loess Bluffs NWR.  The fog had a calming effect on them allowing me to make several trips from the car to set up two tripods and cameras. Another car coming into the Refuge spooked them and they headed off for the morning. This is a trailer for a one minute video that is in the works.

Spring bath

These geese were in a bathing frenzy after arriving earlier in the day.  The action lasted until the bald eagle in the nest above them decided it had had enough and swooped down to scatter them.

Lining up for landing

These geese appear to have coordinated their landing plans. However, the best of plans falls apart when they try to find a spot to touch down.

 

Loess Bluffs NWR

I spent the last couple days recording snow geese as they await better conditions for continuing their migration. Loess Bluffs (formally known as Squaw Creek) is an undiscovered secret and there were locals watching the birds but only a couple other photographers. I had a chance to play with still photography techniques during the midday. Birds arrived over 5 hours and eventually were within 20 yards of the dike.