Pink-footed Geese on the Humber

 

morning Pink-feet

beautiful light just before sunrise this morning with the Pink-feet flighting 
 

Pink-footed Geese - Moon

Thought about this shot the other morning with a decent sized moon over the garden but getting the passing geese  in the right position is a work in progress. Up to 10,000 Pink-feet passing the garden at the moment morning and evening

Pink-footed Geese morning

 had about 3 hours scanning the c7000 Pinks just up the road this morning in the strengthening winds; always hard work and the flocks were very mobile but managed to find a juvenile Greenland White-front that flew off just as I turned the camera its way and a single Tundra Bean Goose but a bit of a monster bird presumably a gander -- also a leucistic Pinky and a very dark bird featured below

Pink-footed Geese

waited 2 hours for these to fly and when they did straight at me and then landed in a field well off the roadside; scanned the 3000 but found nothing different other than two neck collars IIB and TKT

the 500 f4 is a great lens but even the new version is bulky -- flinging it around out of a car window is not a good option -- seriously considering the new 400 f4 DO if it is as good as some people say --

Pink-feet morn

an early start for the Icelandic breeding goose census on the Humber -- by chance what I assume was the majority of the upper Humber birds passed into Yorkshire so I managed to count both roosts from one spot -- presumably missed some but even so totals of 11,420 and 8200 total 19,620 forms the highest ever Humber total for this charismatic species -- 1000's of commuters passed by totally ignoring the spectacle and not a single birder -- add to the geese 1580 Avocets, 2200 Dunlin, 2200 Teal, 12 Pintail, 16 Shoveler, 2 Peregrines, 4 Marsh Harriers and a singing Cetti's Warbler making a pretty decent morning

Pink-footed Geese

there are literally tons of waste potatoes in this field but as the farmer has already sown in with wheat the birds get the usual attention -- why not just leave one field for the birds????

a few more Pink-feet