Soft Snow

Gallery: AvianPosted November 3, 2010118 views6 comments

Well another first for me anyway. I was out at my favorite local lake yesterday and saw some bigger white birds flying in, and swimming amongst the many ducks--Snow Geese (I hope!), the first time I've seen them or tried to shoot them.

Of course, on this day I wasn't expecting much and I only had my little Sony with me--and of course the sun was dead hot though it was only 20+ degrees out. Still, they put on a great show.

So I guess I'm looking for Snow Goose confirmation and yes, I realize it is ultra-soft and gets ultra-noisy if I do much sharpening. ISO-400, 1/1,000th at f-8.0. Thanks for looking!

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on November 3, 2010 at 10:35 AM

Hi Bill: Not exactly sure what this is, but I'm certain it is not a snow goose. Looks more like a gull of some flavor to me. I'm sure someone will chime in with a more precise ID.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Maile on November 3, 2010 at 10:46 AM

Hi Keith, hmmm I may have jumped to yet another errant conclusion! I know SG often stop here, looked at a photo of the wing coloration online and thought well, that's what it was. But the neck certainly looks different, bill maybe, etc. Should have put it in the ID section!

Registered on March 2, 2009, 984 Posts, 2518 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on November 3, 2010 at 11:06 AM

This is a gull. The body size, wing position and neck are all wrong for a snow goose. I have embarrassed myself before on this web site. I am becoming much more cautious about my birds now.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Maile on November 3, 2010 at 11:14 AM

Thanks Richard, I would delete, but I'll just leave it up for an ID. Many other photos of it if needed, about the same quality unfortunately.

Three of them flew in (lake in Northeast corner of PA), and put on quite a show mostly on the far side away from me. The light was so bright and all the white plumage at first I got thinking egrets--they looked larger than this photo shows.