Geese

I am often captivated by excellent wildlife photography.  This is normally not my photography, but that of photographic artists who have the patience, skill, and financial wherewithal to capture the images that I see online, in magazines, and in books.

This Spring, I’ve been more aware than I normally am of the activity of Canada Geese in and around our home.  We live a block away from the Bow River where we can look out over the river and its environs from atop a cliff on the north side of the river.  This provides a unique view of geese flying along the river.  The view of the riverside cliff from the south shore of the river shows the sedimentary layers of the ancient Lake Calgary.

I decided I would try and capture images of the geese in flight.  Fortunately, a friend of mine who has an interest in bird photography agreed to loan me his long telephoto lens.  Learning how to use that lens and set up my camera for bird photography has been a steep learning curve.

To date I’ve spent three periods of about 2 hours each, standing on the river cliff trying to capture birds in flight.  Good grief, this is not an easy thing to do.  I never realised how fast geese fly and trying to track them using a small camera viewfinder is a learned skill.  Nevertheless, I’ve had some success and here are a couple of images that may be worth printing.

A dedicated couple exploring the river's edge

'You'd better go away....or else......

The first image viewed from above the birds shows the geese in flight.  That’s a view that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.  I’m usually watching these birds from below.

The goose in the second image was flying directly at me.  Judging from his constant scolding and aggressive look, he knew very well where I was and the message delivered was that he didn’t like me being there.  He and his partner were nesting at the bottom of the cliff.  I didn’t notice his annoyance until I processed the image.  That look on his face was clearly threatening.

My thoughts drifted back to a long time ago in 1967 when I was living in England.  I was staying with a friend whose parents lived near the south coast of Wales.  We were out walking on the Gower Peninsula, a beautiful bit of country on the extreme southwest coast of Wales.  It has been designated as An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

After exploring the oceanside views and caves along the coast, we were walking back to our car along a country lane.  As we passed a well cared for old home that had a well maintained and beautifully landscaped garden, I saw a scene that I wanted to photograph.  There was no fence marking the edge of the property, so I wandered onto the groomed lawn to compose my image.  I had taken no more than ten steps onto the property when around the corner of a nearby building came about 20 white domestic geese, running full speed and screaming at me, mouths open and wings flared.  That was a frightening scene.  We both turned and ran away as fast as we could.  The geese didn't t stop chasing us at the property edge, they made sure that we received their message, ‘You get off of this property.’

The face of anger on that the Canada goose in my photo, was exactly what the faces were on all those white geese that chased us those many years ago.

After that event back in the 60’s, we stopped in at a pub for a beer and talked to some of the locals about our experience.  They had a good laugh, then explained that a gaggle of geese are used at many country homes in the area instead of guard dogs.  They are cheaper to maintain and are every bit as effective.  We agreed.