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Snow Goose (Dark Morph)
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Snow Goose (Dark Morph)

by KC Choo

Gallery: AvianPosted October 15, 201159 views5 comments
At this time of year, many look forward to the return of the Snow Geese to our part of the world. Birders for the sheer joy of seeing them and hearing them as they take-off en masse in their thousands. Hunters also welcome their return for other reasons.

My friends and I now await their reappearance only to see and photograph the Dark Morph (Blue Phase), and hope to also find the extremely rare Emperor (only one seen in many years) and Ross's Goose (none yet!). This was shot yesterday afternoon in a common in a flock of about 3,000 Snow Geese, and it was only one of 3 adults and one juvenile. They seem always to prefer being in the "middle of the pack" and far away, making it very tough to isolate them for a clean frame. This is the closest and clearest that I have got and fortunately it was closer to the edge of the flock than my previous sightings.

1D MkIV, 700mm, 1/2000 @ f9, ISO800, Tripod, mid-afternoon light.

Comments

5 comments
Comment posted by Verdon on October 15, 2011 at 2:42 PM
great and good quality shot, the whites are manage with good skills .... :toast:
Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments
Comment posted by Avi Hirschfield on October 15, 2011 at 2:43 PM
Hope you get the emperor .GOOD LUCK :cool:
It is really very difficult when they are in the middle of the flock as there is allways one that will do something to make it difficult
to get a decent shot :biggrin:
Registered on November 1, 2003, 518 Posts, 2114 Comments
Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on October 15, 2011 at 4:30 PM
A very good bird and a nice job. Fascinating genetics in this species.

I know what you man about the flocks; the only one I've seen was in the middle of perhaps 10,000 birds at the Salton Sea.
Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments
Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on October 15, 2011 at 4:36 PM
Despite the bodies all around, the goose isolates itself quite well by its color. The miracle is that all the others are OOF! Good job! :toast:
Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments
Comment posted by May Haga on October 16, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Very nice image KC. They are passing through Saskatchewan en masse, and we do have lots of dark morph and Ross's in the mix. However, getting this close is nearly impossible. Well done.
May
Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments