Snow Geese, Bosque del Apache NWR, Socorro NM

Our first day at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for the Festival of the Cranes, there were very few Snow Geese. I saw a few hundred during the day. The next morning it was no better, but as I arrived back at the Visitor Center to begin my day’s work, at about 8:45 am, I heard geese coming in from the north and looked up to see the sky literally full of Snow (and undoubtedly many Ross’) Geese. And I mean full. Thousands. Maybe 10,000 Geese coming in a huge flock. At first it looked like they might overshoot the Refuge, but they did spiral down and settle on the ponds inside the tour loop. I grabbed the closest camera and took some stills and video from the parking lot. This relatively wide angle shot catches a bit of the feeling.

Nikon P610 at 30mm equivalent field of view. 1/1600th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed in Lightroom.