Wildlife at Eagle Lake

We have driven up to Eagle Lake a few times in the past couple of weeks and this is some of the wildlife we have encountered. You might want to click on the photos to enlarge them. The alligator at top is one of the big boys. I would estimate him in the 9-10 foot range. He lives in a bayou near Eagle Lake. The deer was on the levee near Eagle Lake. Notice the two nubs where he will soon have spikes. Mama Goose and Daddy Goose did not appreciate me taking photos of their children and skedaddled further into a bayou along the levee near Eagle Lake. I don't know what kind of bird the little fella is in the last photo, but it is beautiful. 

More geese...lots and lots of geese

I cannot quit thinking about the awesome sight of seeing hundreds of geese fly overhead in their V formations. Big ones. Small ones. Long ones. To me,  I have to wonder how the geese have any clue about what they are doing and where they are going. It's pure instinct, I guess. But it just goes to show — again — the awesomeness of our God who created them and gave them flight. He knows where each goose is today. The same goes for you. Let that thought keep you warm today.

Geese...lots and lots of geese

Click on the photos to enlarge them, especially the one above!

I spent a large part of this weekend standing in a field on Hwy. 3 near Satartia watching one of the greatest spectacles I have ever witnessed — the great geese migration. Have you ever seen a "V" of geese fly overhead and they are honking? Multiply that by hundreds and hundreds of them flying over, so many you can't even count them, so many that your head starts hurting from craning your neck at the sky for so long. Wave after wave after wave of them flew overhead and many thousands of them landed in the field where I was to feed and rest for the night. There were so many geese flying in, it looked like gray clouds descending to the ground. The noise is loud. At one time, the geese started flying around in a circle and the only description that does it justice is to describe it is as a goose tornado. I was so awestruck I didn't even get a photo because I was mesmerized by the sight. I happened to look up at one time and saw the moon and took several photos of the geese flying underneath it. The moon is in focus and the geese are not, since I just focused on it and let the geese enter the photo from every direction. I could have taken hundreds of photos, there were so many flying past the moon, but it was directly overhead and I tired quickly hefting my telephoto lens into the air.

The photos you see here were taken Saturday afternoon just before and during dusk. I went back Sunday morning and spent more time as the geese started taking off and continuing their journey. The sky was filled with geese again as those that bedded down farther north flew by.

I ventured back Monday and got some more shots of them in another field near the highway.

I'll be running more photos this week of this. Pictures, however, cannot do the scene justice, because in person it is a jaw-dropper. A sight such as this may just make me take up videography.

Geese on the Levee

[Click on the photos to enlarge them for better viewing!]

I ventured over to the levee on the Louisiana side Sunday afternoon and I am so glad I did! I don't usually shoot in the bright afternoon sun, but I may have to change that way of thinking. Driving down the levee, I didn't see anything spectacular until one time I turned around and it was unbelievable how blue the water in the borrow pits was! The sun was hitting it just right and with the wind blowing it seemed like there were scores of different shades of blue dancing across the water. Throw in some geese and you have one happy photographer! I can't say the same for the geese, for they were surely not happy to see me interrupt their afternoon paddle. The closer I got to them, the louder they honked. Then it only took one to start flying to send the whole flock into the air. 

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P.S. The sunrise this morning was spectacular. Saw some of the pre-show on the way into work around 6 (with the crescent moon in the sky among the wispy clouds) and I envy those who got to see it bloom across the sky full of God's Glory! I hope those clouds hang around in the morning, so I can devote my entire Saturday morning shoot to it!

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Friday Bonus: I am meeting so many new people through this blog! From Florida to New York and all areas in between, I have had correspondence with some of the nicest people. One of my biggest supporters is Sheila at http://thequintessentialmagpie.blogspot.com.

Go visit her; it will warm your heart!

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I have been reminded many times this week what a great God we have. Forget diamonds and sapphires. God's jewelry is sown across the lakes and ponds that dot this great region of ours. We're rich!