When thousands of snow geese,
rise,
they roar!
Like massive waterfalls,
they drown all sound,
but for the beating thrum of thousands of wings.
They blanket the sky,
blocking the sun,
with blinding white,
generating their own radiant light!
Cheers to you from the wintering snow geese at The Salton Sea~
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Fabulous. Seems like you almost need ear protection!
I think the sound is magic. 😉
Well, on second thoughts, this is definitely more for your ears than the colony of Pinkfoot geese in the marshes in Norfolk … And what a sight for the eyes, Cindy. Incredible images, I have never seen anything like it. Bravo!
YES! Being in the center of the flock is a feeling of utter peace and safety, combined with a sense of wonder that can only come from being in the heart of mother nature and her creation. <3 It wasn’t at all unpleasant. It was very similar to the thunder of a very large waterfall, all enveloping but completely tranquil~ 🕊️
It wasn’t at all unpleasant. It was very similar to the thunder of a very large waterfall, all enveloping but completely tranquil~ 🕊️
Oh, then, that’s lovely.
Absolutely stunning photographs, Sue. Incredible Incredible cloud of geese!
Thanks so much and cheers to you Isabel~ 🕊️🕊️
On the first picture it doesn’t look like a flock of birds but like a cloud. Unbelievable, how many geese are in one place.
Trying to figure this out is like trying to count penguins in Antarctica which scientists did while we were there. They took an area and shot panoramic photos. Blew up one area and counted the penguins, then multiplied the area by the remaining amount of space and came up with something like 400,000 in that area. I wouldn’t be able to guess the numbers, but it is much larger than you see in the photos since I couldn’t begin to get the entire flock into one shot. I shot them in segments.
Beautiful…
They are gorgeous creatures! 🕊️
Fabulous sighting…
It was thrilling! 🕊️
Magnificent, Cindy. 🙂 — Suzanne
Ah, thank you Patricia and cheers to you~
Amazing. I have been fortunate to feel the thrumming of their wings in my heart. I look forward to this time of year when the arctic birds sometimes winter here but alas not one so far.
Yes, you do feel this is your heart. Beautifully expressed Colleen~ <3
Fascinating pictures!
Thank you!
Wow! So many of them. That’s a truly awesome sight. And there was me thinking that the flocks of geese were large that arrived on the SE coast of the UK from Scandinavia this winter. I loved their honking noises from dawn to dusk for several weeks on end. Every time they flew over the garden, I could hear their wings beating the air. My dog was entranced. She sat int he middle of the lawn, staring up at the sky, watching them. I taught her from a young age that birds are not to be treated as marauders on, or over her territory, so she loves them and treats them with great respect … the respect they deserve.
And they probably respond to her in kind. My husband witnessed me in the flock. He asked, “Weren’t you concerned you would get dropped on?”
I said, “Not even for a nano-second. ” My face was turned directly up, shooting the birds with my mouth open in wonder as they flew in mass over my head. I thought they wouldn’t drop on me and they didn’t.
Maybe they can sense when they are revered, like your doggie watching them fly by.
What a wonderful world~
I’ve never seen that many snow geese, or any kind of birds, all together at once. Amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you more for appreciating them! 🕊️
Such majestic creatures, Cindy — thanks for sharing their winter habitat with us. I get to see geese all summer (not sure if they’re the snow variety, though).
There are so many different kind of geese aren’t there, just like ducks. There were some pretty exotic ducks at the sea too~ 🕊️
Whenever the geese fly overhead I always say to them “Safe journey guys,” I adore geese.
Good for you and somehow I think they hear you! 🕊️
These are some wonderful photos! We live right by a playa lake, and the Canada geese winter over here. There are thousands of them. When they take off it is so loud it drowns out the TV. We always run to look and take photos, too. I don’t think I hear their wings, but their honking is making so much noise! 🙂
Oh how wonderful! These guys weren’t honking much. Just the sound of the wings. But the sandhill cranes have that distinctive lu-lu-lul honk when they fly! 🕊️
Yummy! My favorite meal just flying around waiting for… well, let’s not go there. Next Christmas is far away 🙂
Laughing, no let’s not go there. I can’t eat ducks or geese because I used to raise them. I remember you were very tolerant of the grizzlies even though they were eating your salmon! 🙂 😉 🕊️
I share my food, always have and always will. Chocolate is not food right?
Wow. That’s a lot of geese! I think the most I’ve seen at a time are about 30 and even they are noisy. Great photos, Cindy.
It is a pretty awe inspiring sight! 🕊️
Wow, unter vielen tollen Fotos sind die aber noch ein highlight !!!
Du bist sehr nett! Vielen Dank und Jubel fur Sie~
Those are beautiful! You add light to this WordPress 🙂
You (and your Matthew) add pure heart. I have a Matthew too~ <3 🕊️
Another fascinating tale! This sounds like a sight to behold and hear. I certainly didn’t know that they roar! Thanks Cindy.
Ah, thanks Brad. They don’t actually roar with their bills but with the sound of thousands of their beating wings~ 🕊️
That would be quite the sight to see let alone hear, Cindy.
Leslie
It is, and was! Nature is incredible~ 🕊️
How absolutely GLORIOUS!😃
Exactly! Thank you for knowing~ <3 🕊️
Wow, these are stunning photos Cindy. I love some of the close-ups you managed to get, too 🙂
Thank you for noticing them and cheers to you too~ 🕊️🕊️
These are awesome shots. 🙂
Thank you very much~ 🕊️
That must be the most AMAZING experience, Cindy! Lucky you!
It is. It was. It will remain so. It is like being hugged by nature~ <3 🕊️
Fabulous shots. Wow. The photos are spectacular and the captures amazing. I can’t imagine how they don’t trample each other landing when there’s so many in one spot. Thank you for sharing, Cindy. Love the pictures. <3 <3
If you start to think about how they fly like this, take off and land with precision, envelope me in the take off, (an oddity to day the least) without touching me, and travel thousands of miles with no wrong turns, if think about this, you realize we have no idea how they do any of these things. And that awareness leaves you open to the wonder which is a beautiful thing~ <3 🕊️
Absolutely gorgeous experience – must have been! Oh, the sound! And so beautiful, I guess they move like one body?
They do and you are right, it is an amazing experience. Cheers to you and thank you Leya~
Oh my, that is a lot of geese- so much abundance!
Yes, the numbers are astounding~
That would be an amazing view, Cindy. I would love to stand in the field and watch their flight real time one day!
It is otherworldly to be in the midst of one these flocks. They don’t even brush you they are such precise fliers!
Amazing!
Sublime.
Looooove these photos! 💗They remind me of when we used to go to Bombay Hook NWR in DE and would see giant masses of them. Once, we were out at another wildlife viewing area and a flock flew directly overhead. We ran to the car but poor hubby got a runny present right on his shoulder anyway. 😆
Cross my fingers, no bird has ever bombed me! It is a thrill so see this phenomena and I am glad you had experienced! 🕊️
Fantastische Cindy…
Vielen dank mein lieber Freund Ernst! 🕊️ <3
Marvelous shots, Cindy. I’d love to see them and hear the roar one day. The last picture is my favorite – masterful capture!
Ah, thank you for noticing it! You can see I only got a portion of the flock in the pano shot. The back portion was cut off. The flock was twice as big!
Wow!
‘A screeching, scolding, scrabbling host of seabirds on the shore.
A snowy, silent, sun-washed drift of seabirds on the shore.’
Walter de la Mare [the last two lines of The Storm]
Love both of them. Thank you for sharing ! 🕊️🕊️
Gulp! I realise I have misquoted. It should be:
‘A host of screeching scolding scrabbling
sea-birds on the shore.
A snow, silent, sun-washed drift
of sea-birds on the shore.’
Apologies Walter!
It is beautiful both ways!
What a massive flock Cindy!! Where do they come from?? Amazing photos (like always!). thank you.
The snow geese spend springs and summer in Canada and Alaska and winter either in the Salton Sea in Southern California or Central California~
Hey Cindy–never seen them here– we have 2 parks nearby that have big flocks of Canadian geese than come down. You’re photos were amazing! Hope you’re in the middle of a lovely weekend. It’s dry here today!
Happy Saturday to you Rhonda and enjoy the dry spell~ <3
Hi Cindy– we did take advantage of our dry day– drove up to the Pasadena Civic to see a broadcast of “Prairie Home Companion.” Lots of fun music– now we’re back to slogging through the rain (but I’m NOT complaining!) How was your weekend??
How fun and I love Garrison. It just hailed like nobody’s business! It was like snow in the semi-desert! The birds were shocked. All is good here. Enjoying the rain. We are heading up to Piedras Blancas on Thursday to see the baby elephant seals.
Hail?!! crazy weather! But I’m loving the rain (and so is my yard). Will be waiting to see photos of those little seals… hugs!
<3 <3
Wow…. Amazing captures, Cindy! I’d be thrill to death watching these birds. 🙂
It is indeed & Happy Saturday Amy! <3
W-wowwww!
That sums up the experience perfectly! 🕊️
What an amazing sight.
And sound! 🕊️
Piękne zdjęcia Cindy.
Wszystkiego najlepszego w Nowym Roku
Dziękuję mojemu przyjacielowi i wszystkiego dobrego!
I’ll bet they help maintain the fertility of those fields too. 🙂
I tromped all over the place and I didn’t see the amount of errrrrr, fertilizer, that I expected, maybe due to the rains~
We have trumpeter Swans in Sequim WA. Love these birds.
Lucky you! They have them wintering in Central California too. I drove by them once quickly with someone else and want very much to go back.
Beautiful photos. We don’t have snow geese here, just Canadian geese. They do make a lot of racket, but it amazes me to watch them fly.
Their formations are quite beautiful!
WOW – simply spectacular Cindy. It must have been an amazing experience 💛
Yes! The roar of thousands of wings is very powerful~
And the ROAR of people being heard across the country is also powerful 💕
Indeed! I did this post in anticipation of our peaceful roar~
💕🙏💕
Beautiful shots of a splendid happening, Cindy!
I love geese. Do you ever see Canada Geese where you are?
Sadly not. I have to go north to see them~
wow…the sounds…so so so many….wonderful Val ~ smiles hedy
They are an undeniably powerful force when all together! 🕊️
oh i can only imagine 🙂
<3
Wow!!!
Yes! 🕊️
Wow, what a mass of geese taking off in the last photo!
Oscar
Plus, I couldn’t include the whole flock, there were many more! 🕊️
Hallo, Cindy, schönen Sonntag und guten Start in die neue Woche
Vielen dank mein lieber Freund~ 🕊️
As always so amazing Cindy!
Power in numbers! 🕊️
yes!
Goodness me! Need an umbrella to be under all that! LOL
I stood under many flocks and they never dropped a single gift on me! 🕊️
Don’t jinx! 😄
Good point! 😉
What an experience that must have been.I hope I can one day experience it, too.
I hope so too. It is hard to describe, but quite magical~ 🕊️
Whoa! Those are a lot of birds. When we were still children, we used to witness “clouds” of birds like this in our hometown. They usually fly around late in the afternoon. Unfortunately, with all the cut trees, pollution, artificial developments, etc., we haven’t seen massive groups of birds like this any more. 🙁
That is so sad. It is magical to experience~ 🕊️🕊️