Misc spring 2003

Arctic Birds on the Skagit River Delta

All images are links to larger presentations of the image.

The Skagit River Flats are a wintering ground for Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swans. It is a small farming area between the Cascade Mountains and the Puget Sound. Game department pays farmers to plant delicious grasses for the winter; crop residuals remain, and a shallow bay at river mouth ( for overnight sanctuary), combined with mild winters, all create an ideal environment for the birds.

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To me, Trumpeter Swans epitomize the joy of flight! They are large birds, two or more times the size of a Canadian goose, with over 4 foot wingspans. Photographing them in flight is a VERY difficult process. They are shy, and zoom by at over 40 miles an hour. Even with 1/500 sec shutter speeds, getting wingtips not blured is difficult. My photo-buddies with auto-focus and long telephoto lenses have better luck than I.
Though I don't have many successful images of them in flight, it is utter JOY to watch them!

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Our mostly rainy and foggy weather adds to the challenge of photography, but also adds a mystic moodiness.

. Geese, Fog, Farm

. Geese flying

. Geese and Mt. Baker
Mt Baker is another in our string of volcanos.

. Take off is Chaos
When spooked, they take off en-mass. If you have not heard 4000 geese honking their hearts out, you don't know what LOUD is !

. Spooked Geese
When the birds take off they also dump any exess weight! Take cover! It is a thunderstorm of poop !

. Goose cloud
From a distance, the geese nearly form a cloud, a fog bank.

. Density of geese
There can easily be 2000-3000 birds per acre in a flock. They ARE wild, and as such shy. Getting close requires respect, patience and non predatory body language.

. Red on goose.
Though they always gather as densely as possible, there are always territorial squabbles about every square inch!The goose in the lower right is about to peck the center one. The color indicates they are transients from Arizona on the way to tundra of Alaska.

. enjoying grass
Winter hardy grasses provide plenty of food.

. Swans in potato field
Potato fields also have plenty of leftovers to be gleaned.

. Blue Heron reflection
Still worth watching the neighborhood for other subjects.

Comments, questions, suggestions etc. to Rein Karp

All photographs on this and any of the other pages are protected by © Copyright; whether or not the copyright symbol appears. Permission is granted for personal viewing only; no rights are granted hereby. Any manner of further personal, commercial or editorial use is prohibited except by written permission of the photographer.

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