The "Beautiful Aerial Acrobatics" Story

It was an ordinary day. Taking in the snow geese, Canadian Geese and tundra swans at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lebanon, PA. The annual migration at Middle Creek is under way. Currently, there are approximately 80,000 snow geese, 3,000 tundra swans, 2,500 Canadian geese and a variety of duck species passing through the wildlife area. Hard to understand how many birds that is until you see it in person. I'm at Middle Creek with my wife Carol as well as my daughter, Brynn, and two grand daughters, Courtney and Camille, who have come to visit for the weekend. Oh yeah, Rocco their dog has come along. As we get close to Middle Creek, the traffic gets heavier and the sides of the road are covered with parked cars. We all pile out of Brynn's car and head to the water which is near the side of the road. After seeing that we are not close enough to see most of the geese and swans, we hop back in the car and drive another half mile to the parking lot of the wildlife area. Brynn parks the car and we head toward the water. Couple hundred yards later we reach our destination and WOW! Thousands and thousands of white feathered birds line the banks and the surface of the water. The tundra swans are my favorites. They are pure white and weigh anywhere from 7 to 21 pounds on the average with a wing span of 67-77 inches. That's over six feet in wing span! The birds breed along the Arctic Oceancoast and migrate via Canada and the Great Lakes region to winter at the Atlantic coast of the USA, mainly from Maryland to South Carolina, but some move as far south as Florida. This past week they started their northern voyage back to the arctic. Tundra Swans have high-pitched honking calls and sound similar to a black goose. Snow Geese have two color phases; the white or "snow" phase when they are white with black wing tips and the "blue" phase when they have ablue gray body with the black wing tips and a white neck and head. They can weigh approximately 4-8 pounds. They also breed in the arctic and winter along the gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas. They are a beautiful bird, but not nearly as majestic as the tundra swans. Both species will feed in this area until weather and prevailing winds dictate that they return to the arctic. I have my DSLR with my 18mm-200mm lens on and realize that I am way over matched when I look at the equipment that other photographers have with them. First time I ever did this and I will be better prepared next year. We watched and listened to the birds for almost an hour, then made our way back to the car and home. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - pixs from the top are: Camille, Courtney, Carol and Rocco heading to Middle Creek, spotting area along the water, flight of four tundra swans over the water, overhead shot of two of the swans showing off their 6 foot wingspan, mostly snow geese searching for a spot to land on the water and the snow geese with their black tipped wings taking flight.