Day of the Snow Geese - Images by Ron Reznick
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Every year, while waiting for the weather to warm up enough to allow them to make the trip to their
Arctic breeding grounds, 50,000 or more Snow Geese winter at Bosque del Apache. Their blast-offs at
dawn are quite dramatic and are a major attraction to folks visiting the refuge, despite the extreme cold.

The Snow Geese are sometimes accompanied by Ross’s Geese, a smaller goose with a smaller
beak, which is lacking the black ‘lips’ of it’s larger cousin. You can sometimes see them if you look
at individuals in the hordes. Also, in large enough groups you can occasionally see the Blue Morph
(dark body with white head and upper neck), and there are some hybrids here and there, of course.

The Snow Geese are surprisingly difficult to shoot individually in the sky. Assuming that you are
trying to fill an appreciable portion of the frame, it’s likely that you will have your focusing brackets
on white parts of the goose (almost the entire goose), which means that there is not enough contrast
for the focusing system to work. This makes acquiring individual shots or small groups in the air a
challenging proposition, which means that you are going to try that much harder to succeed.

I hope you enjoy this display of Snow Geese from Bosque del Apache.

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Bosque Dawn Flyout X8725

Note in the larger image how the birds in the red-orange and gold parts of the sky
turn red as they reflect the intense sunlight of this New Mexico sunrise.
 

Bosque Dawn Flyout X8726

Capturing photos of the geese during one of these flyouts is exceedingly difficult,
as the typical shutter speed is 1/10 sec. or longer. The trick to getting an acceptable shot is to
lock down the tripod head to be certain that the landscape is sharp, then shoot a little before your
desired compositional layout of the birds in the frame. That way, you have a clean landscape
and the birds will fly into the upper and outer areas of the frame while the shutter is open.
 

Bosque Dawn Flyout XL

click for 1335 x 1144 version

Available as an XL Signed Composite (3560 x 3050)

The individual Bosque Dawn and Dawn Flyout shots are available as XL Signed images,
as are the Sunrise shots with X in the shot number (e.g. New Mexico Sunrise X6762).
Shots without the X in the shot number are either available as LG signed, or can be.

New Mexico Sunrise X6762

Thousands of geese flying towards the fields
as dawn breaks on another day in New Mexico.
 

Bosque Flyout 2232

On thinly overcast days, the diffusion of light
through the clouds creates entirely different looks.
 

Snow Geese Dawn Flyout HS8386

Facing southwest towards the Chupadera Mountains puts the light over your left shoulder
and allows for a different look at the explosion of geese. This shot was taken with an 85mm at f/1.4,
which allowed me to get the shutter speed up enough to maintain relative sharpness of individual birds.
 

Snow Geese Sunrise HS1065

This shot, facing due west towards the Chupaderas on a very cold morning in December,
shows the first rays of sun lighting the cottonwoods, the geese, and the mountains in a pink light.
 

Bosque Flyout 2246

Sometimes they blast off before dawn. In
this case, the geese were coming from the south
and the light to the east wasn’t going to yield good
results, so I shot to the south with a wider aperture
(f/5.6) to raise the shutter speed to get individual
birds sharper. You do what works in the situation.
 

Snow Geese Flyout 4943

Sometimes, the geese don’t go right to the fields
after the dawn flyout, instead returning where they
were or to another pond. These geese went to
one of the Crane Pools, and offered another
opportunity to shoot the flyout when they blasted
off from the Crane Pool a half an hour later.
 

Snow Geese Flyout Silhouette 3897

Shooting directly into the sun often yields a
 poor result. What I do is watch for a group of
geese that is about to cross in front of the sun,
and then fire off several shots as they cross. This
often yields one or two where the group blocks the
majority of the light and their aperture creates rays.
 

Snow Geese Sunrise X8742

A flock of geese on a pond as the sun
comes up, allowing a look at individuals.

The mottled ducks front center, lower left,
and center right are juveniles.
 

Snow Geese Sunrise X8748

A juvenile in the foreground and an adult right of center.

Shooting into the sun reduces contrast. Let’s see how they look if you shoot with the sun at your back.
 

Snow Geese Sunrise 6450

Different group, different pond (different day, too).

Now we can get a good look at our subjects. Again, we have a juvenile right foreground
and adults everywhere else. Note the black area between the bills (the ‘lips’).
If you see a smaller goose in the group with a stubbier bill and it is
missing this black area, you have a Ross’s Goose.
 

Snow Goose Sunrise 6452
 

Snow Geese with
Blue Morph Juvenile 2344

Shot at sunrise, this flock contains a very large
blue morph juvenile (note the dark headed fellow).
 

Snow Geese with Blue Morph 2348

A different section of the same flock with a
blue morph adult. The dark body and white head
make this bird stand out from the other birds.
 

Snow Geese Sunrise Flight 4717

One nice thing about shooting at the Crane Pools
west of the road leading into the refuge is that
the sun is at your back in the morning.
 

Snow Geese Flyout 2358

It offers a high contrast opportunity, with the
light geese against the darker brush and water.
Of course, since those geese are white and they
reflect the sunlight, this makes the exposures
tricky, (1/3 stop between success and junk).
 

Snow Geese Flock HS8433

A flock, warming up before heading to the fields.
Here we have strong low-angle sunlight glancing
in from the left. If you try to hold the highlights, you
underexpose the shot badly. If it’s white let it blow.
 

Snow Geese Flock HS8408

This image shows a few of the rare blue morphs.
(dark bodies, light heads, two are right of center)

This is a tightly cropped image of the same flock.
 

Snow Geese and Cranes in Corn Field HS8360 Pano Crop

An 1884 x 785 look at geese and cranes in a field.
 

Snow Geese and Cranes in Corn Field X6438 Pano Crop

More geese, more cranes, more field...
resized down to 2830 x 396 to keep image size reasonable.
Notice the single blue morph goose, front row, just left of center.
 

Snow Geese Mauve Landing 4286

A pre-dawn landing on a cloudy day.
 

Snow Geese Mauve Landing 4289
 

Snow Geese 4353

There are some Ross’s Geese in this group.

The geese hang out together, honking and having
their goose conversations, until something clicks.
 

Snow Geese Flyout Frenzy 2316

BAM! They’re off again...
This is an unbelievable sight to behold.
 

Snow Geese Flyout 6353

You have to see (and hear) this for yourself. Simply staggering.
 

Snow Geese: Tranquility to Frenzy SXL

click for 1500 x 996 version

Available as an SXL Signed Composite (4948 x 3284)
 

Snow Geese 3658

A storm in the west and clear in the east...
another interesting backdrop to shoot geese
in the sunlight. The dark background makes the
exposure difficult, but makes focusing easier.
 

Snow Geese 3665
 

Snow Geese 3678

Head-on shots are very tricky, because the
geese are approaching quickly and they are a
low-contrast target. Very difficult to track focus.
 

Snow Geese 3731

They are much easier to shoot when approaching
obliquely or directly across your line of sight.

Then all you have to deal with is the exposure.
 

Snow Goose 3696

Getting a frame-filling flight shot of a single individual up to high standards is difficult.
Getting that shot in perfect focus and with a perfect exposure simply makes you smile.
 

Snow Geese Sunrise Flyout 4682

Some head-on shots. One of the most challenging, and also yielding the most comical look.
 

Snow Goose 6453
 

Snow Goose 6454

I love the look of the face from a head-on angle.
 

Snow Geese in Flight XL

click for 1519 x 837 version

Available as an XL Signed Composite (4220 x 2325)
 

Snow Goose Hybrid Blue Morph 4540
 

Snow Goose 4124

Some profile and oblique shots of individuals.
 

Snow Geese Blue Morph
Sunset Flight 6075

Not perfect, as it was quite dark, but this shot
is so unusual that it deserves inclusion here.
 

Snow Goose Blue Morph 4414

Shot before sunrise, this is the same
blue morph Snow Goose as in the image below.
 

Snow Goose Blue Morph 4413

Again, not perfect as there was so little light I had to compromise exposure for shutter speed to
be certain I got the shot (these were the only opportunities I had at this bird in closeup flight).
Although the image had to be pushed in processing, underexposing ensured that I got the shot.
 

Snow Goose 4104
 

Snow Goose 4105
 

Snow Goose 4125

A few closeup shots... always challenging.
 

Snow Goose 4152

OK, let’s make it tougher. A head-on closeup.
 

Snow Geese 4179

Small-group formation shots are an
exercise in action shot compositions.
 

Snow Geese 4186

Always leave just a little room at the edges of
the frame, or you may cut off a wingtip. Annoying.
 

Snow Geese XL

click for 2250 x 1200 version
(web compression, 219kb)

Personal Use Only
contact Ron Reznick at (818) 843-8212
for permission for other uses or licensing of the larger version

A reduced version of the 3600 x 1920 (Portfolio compression, 1200kb) Flight Study,
a composite of images 4103, 4104, and 4105 (two of these images are shown above).
 

Snow Geese 2240

This pair are Ross’s Geese. Note the smaller bills without black ‘lips’.
 

This shot and the one below were taken at mid-day from atop the
farm loop lookout platform to try to catch geese flying at eye level,
for the perspective of another goose flying in formation with them.
 

Snow Geese 2252
 

Snow Geese Fly-in 3072

Here, a fly-in at sunset (they fly back into the
ponds for protection from predators overnight).
 

Snow Geese Fly-in 3074

For these kinds of shots, it’s best to get landscape
in the image (unless you want a texture file).
 

Snow Geese Sunset Fly-in 5925

An exposure nightmare combined with the difficulty of composing while tracking focus
on a low-contrast target with a low-contrast background. These shots are extremely challenging.
 

Snow Geese Moon X4029
 

Snow Geese Moon X4030
 

Snow Geese Moon X4031

I’ve had one or another of these shots available on various pages.
This is the first time that all three have been posted together.
A friend wondered why I hadn’t and I had no good reason.

These are available as XL Signed images (~3000 x 2000)
 

Snow Geese Sunset HS8379

We finish off with one of those beautiful peach/pink sunsets... with some Snow Geese of course.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this page. Along with the photographs, I thought I’d pass on some
tricks to getting this sort of shot. I’ve been asked so many times... anyway, now I’ve done it.

Stop by some of the other pages in this section for more from Bosque del Apache.