March 22nd, 2013 – Avian Friday: Snow Geese

One of Western Washington’s key attractions for nature photographers and birders are the Snow Geese flocks that winter at Fir Island. Only an hours drive north of Seattle, this portion of the Skagit Valley is rich with opportunities to see many different species of birds. One of the most impressive though are the hundreds of Snow Geese. They can usually be found at the Fir Island Farms/Hayton Snow Goose Reserve, but often they can be found at other farm fields in the vicinity so you may have to do a little driving to locate them. Usually its about this time of year that they begin to migrate from the area, but they were still there in good numbers two weeks ago. The first image is from a couple of seasons back and the following from my most recent visit.

Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens)

Fir Island, Washington;
500mm | 1/2000th Sec. @f/7.1| ISO 160
Canon 1D Mark III + Canon EF 500/4L IS USM

Fir Island, Washington;
500mm | 1/400th Sec. @f/9| ISO 200
Canon 5D Mark III + Canon EF 500/4L IS USM

Processed with Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS6, Nik Define & ColorEfex.

To see larger versions please click on the images.

Feel free to comment below if you like what you see or have any other observations.

Thanks for stopping by,

JayT

Tags: Bird-in-flight, Canon 1D MkIII, Canon 5D MkIII, Canon EF 500mm f4.0 L IS USM, Fir Island, Nature photography, Skagit Valley

• March 22, 2013
• Birds in Flight
• 3 Comments