Category: Winter

Note to self … never pass up the opportunity to spend the day with 70,000+ of your favorite snow geese!  The migration is AMAZING to see and hear in person.  If you have the chance, don’t miss it!  The time is now and the place is Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.

I made a short visit to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area on Saturday.  With rain in the forecast for the afternoon, I knew it would be a quick visit.  The estimate for the day was 50,000 snow geese and they were very active as 4-6 bald eagles were in the vicinity looking for lunch!  Everyone waits for the geese to take to flight en masse and they did not disappoint!  With that many geese flying overhead, it’s inevitable that you will be subject to falling poop.  It happened to me and a couple friends yesterday.  Yuck!

It was a dark and stormy day…..!  Okay, well maybe not dark, but definitely stormy!  It started with snow at daybreak which later changed to sleet and now is mostly rain which is freezing on the trees and probably everything else (a.k.a. roads!).  I was home from work (snow day!) and spent a little time photographing birds in the garden … along with some icy trees!  This year there are many trees (maples, oaks?) that have not lost all of their leaves, which adds a nice touch of color to the otherwise drab winter landscape.

Wings up, wings down, wings somewhere in between!  There were plenty of Tundra Swans at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area over the weekend – estimates say about 2,500.  They are so elegant in flight as well as on the water.

When the lake at Middle Creek Wildlife Recreation Area is partially covered in ice, most snow geese gather on whatever open water they can find.  Some, however, prefer to stand or even sleep on top of the ice.  I love the reflections of their little orange feet and white bodies on the frozen surface.