One reason I like the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge is that both the driver and the passenger can see lots of birds, which isn’t always the case on refuge auto tours which seem built to mainly accommodate the driver’s viewing. While Leslie was seeing Bitterns, Doves, Stilts and Snipes, I was seeing Snow Geese, hundreds of Snow Geese, the commonest bird on the refuge during winter, and the attraction that originally drew me to the refuge 15 years ago.
As we drove to the refuge from our motel I was surprised how many fields were flooded, more than I’ve ever seen, and many of those fields were covered with Snow Geese feeding. So, I worried that there wouldn’t be many of them on the refuge. It was a needless worry, as we were greeted by fields full of Snow Geese.
Even though we were barely moving and the geese were hundreds of yards away, many of them took flight as we slowed to take pictures,
only to land a few yards away.
Meanwhile, other geese that were much closer merely paused to look around and then went back to feeding.
There was even an occasional, lone Snow Goose,
but most of the time you see large flocks of them flying to or from nearby fields.
Like most birders, we look for unusual birds, or, at least, birds we don’t see very often. However, there is still something awe-inspiring in seeing thousands of Snow Geese grazing in wetlands or flying overhead.