Snow geese

[MN Shutterbug]

Here are a coupla shots just to give you an idea of the numbers of snows at the refuge. It was incredible when they would all get up, and the sun would be reflecting off their wings. The sound was quite incredible too. When I enlarged the 2nd photo, I could see it was mallards surrounded by the snows. They maybe felt more secure there, with the eagles looking for lunch.

[finnbay]

What a flock! Nice shot!

[blk94fiveoh]

That must be quite the sight in person. Where is the refuge?

[MN Shutterbug]

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That must be quite the sight in person. Where is the refuge?

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Yep, it was quite the sight. The refuge is in MO, 90 miles north of Kansas City and 35 north of St. Joseph. It's just of I29.

[mcary]

Nice shots X. You gotta love seeing that many birds. I have plans to head to Squaw Creek in late December for a couple of days. What did you shoot these with (equivalent focal length)? I'm wondering if my 100-400 will be enough lens down there.

[Steve Foss]

Nice stuff, X. I wish I was there right now. I awoke at 6 a.m. to 1 degree, howling north winds and new overnight snow drifts of 1 to 2 feet in places. Brrrr.

[Paul]

ONly 1 degree. Steve you guys have it easy today. I woke up to -4 with a -25 wind chill. arghghghghg. It is about time I guess, hard to beleive I mowed the lawn on Sunday afternoon.

Great shot of snows there Mike.

[Finns]

About 30 miles from my house. Wish I knew you were in the area. There are a couple lakes nearby to get a little closer to the eagles.

Finns.

[Dbl]

Wow, thats a lot of birds!

[MN Shutterbug]

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Nice shots X. You gotta love seeing that many birds. I have plans to head to Squaw Creek in late December for a couple of days. What did you shoot these with (equivalent focal length)? I'm wondering if my 100-400 will be enough lens down there.

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The eagles were shot at 734mm and the snow geese, I don't recall. I do know I backed off some for the snow geese.

[hendenhook]

X - I enjoyed the shots of the Snows and Blues, makes me remember how you can "feel" it when the lift off the lake. I liked your shots of the eagles too - thanks for the post.

[MN Shutterbug]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Michael, you're going to have a heck of a drive. You're about 270 miles northeast of me and Squaw Creek is about 370 miles south of here. What route do you plan on taking?

[mcary]

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Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Michael, you're going to have a heck of a drive. You're about 270 miles northeast of me and Squaw Creek is about 370 miles south of here. What route do you plan on taking?

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I will be leaving from central MN and will probably head through the metro and down 35 until just north of K.C. then cut over. It looks to be just over 600 miles. I have grandparents that live just south of K.C. My brother and I are going to head down there and hit the refuge for a day or two each way.

[MN Shutterbug]

Michael, here is a link to the Squaw Creek HSOforum. From this, you can keep track of the numbers of waterfowl and eagles each week, among other things. They seem to update late every tuesday. I understand the first 2 weeks of December are best. Unfortunately, about 85% of the water was frozen already. Of course, that can change. They did say this ice was a bit early. I hope there are masses of fowl there when you get there. I hear that the largest number of bald eagles at any one time, has been around 300. Maybe you'll get lucky. I wish you the best, when you get there, and better success than I had.

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/squawcreek/index.htm

[mcary]

Thanks X,

I already had it bookmarked along with a bunch of other sites I'd like to visit - but I still appreciate the thought. I'm making it a personal project to come up with a list of locations for wildlife photography and the best times of the year to go. When you have limited time to get out taking photos, it's seems like it would be useful to know how to maximize your results.

[MN Shutterbug]

Mcary, that's a good idea. I also have a few locations saved on my PC for birding hot spots, this coming spring. I may even return to Squaw Creek in April. Late April and early May, you might find me in South Dakota. I have a couple unique spots within a couple hours picked out. Come summer, I plan on making a run up to Ely. I believe that is still my favorite part of MN. In the meantime, I have to find time for fishing. Like you, I decided to have locations in mind in advance. Then, when the time comes, I'm ready to rock and roll.