It's the first week of March which means two things-- 1) wish JB a happy birthday, and 2) the return of the snow geese and tundra swans to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area north of Lancaster.
The huge numbers we've seen in the past aren't here yet, possibly because the lake is still mostly frozen over, but Saturday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures about 40 degrees. And that means two more things-- less ice and therefore more birds, and bird watchers will be out early to claim the premium parking spaces.
In one year, 180,000 snow geese stopped during their migration back to Alaska. There aren't that many birders, but it sometimes seems so.
Many of the birders/photographers will be hauling lenses as big as small cars to Willow Point, but even those birders with point and shoot cameras will find plenty to shoot. Larry Usselman of Harrisburg has a terrific online gallery about Middle Creek.
The birds will spend most of the day feeding in the fields that surround the lake and might be out of sight. But just as the sun goes down, expect thousands to descend on the lake for safety of the water.
Stick around until dark and you'll be rewarded. There are picnic tables on the point, and a portable restroom.
The above picture was taken on a cloudy Wednesday morning with a Nikon 2Hs attached to a spotting scope, about 1/250 second-- much too slow for the length of lens-- and pushed to 1000 ISO. All those numbers contribute to the photo being much less than stellar.
Thanks for the link to my Middle Creek photo gallery and the kind words, Bill. I hope to get back there in the next week or so and see if I can add a few more shots. You know how it is with us photographers; there's always a better shot out there just waiting for us!