Every once in a while, you encounter something in your chosen career path that makes you go, "YES!! I do want to be this when I grow up!"
I had just that type of moment this past weekend.A lovely group of wildlife ladies invited me to join them on a trip to Freezeout Lake, MT to observe migrating snow geese. I did not expect too much--some geese flocked together on a lake, that's cool--but I haven't seen snow geese since Alaska, so I was pretty excited.
It turns out that it isn't just a flock of snow geese that spend a few weeks at Freezeout every year. It is ALL THE BIRDS. So many geese that pictures cannot do the event justice (though I did try). Their constant honking created a cacophony across the water, a constant background noise to our viewing experience.
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| Sure, that's quite a few birds... |
It is not only snow geese, either. Tundra swans and pintail ducks (also old friends from the Arctic) and many more species also congregate on their way north. Some of these guys could be heading straight back up to Barrow eventually! How I wish I could join them. . .
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| That's a decent amount of geese. |
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| Okay, that's even more birds. . . |
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| THOSE ARE NOT INSECTS. |
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| You get the picture. |
The geese left in small bursts at first, lighting out over the water to land in nearby fields. Then, as the giant group straight ahead of us lifted off and swarmed as they had done several times before already, something changed. A giant mass of them lifted all at once and roared over our heads. I gave up trying to capture the moment, overwhelmed.
In surrounding fields, we spotted bald eagles, golden eagles, and numerous rough-legged hawks. We were peering at a short, magical window in which this place comes vibrantly alive. And it was truly awesome.
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| Small group landing in a nearby field. |
As we drove away, we were all talking animatedly about what we'd just seen, excited about this amazing world we live in, and about being biologists someday.
It is a marvel. I have a hard time imagining myself doing anything else.
--Ellen
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