We met at 5:15AM to drive to Bosque del Apache NWR for sunrise and to witness the “explosion” as thousands of snow geese rise up from the water to fly to their day time feeding ground. The temperature was a balmy 50° at that hour and the sky was filled with clouds making for a potentially gorgeous background for the morning take-off. The bad thing was that the wind was brutal. I’m not certain what the wind speed was out on the “Flight Deck,” a viewing platform that extends over the water’s edge, but the water was very choppy. The wind was severe enough that I was afraid something would blow into my eyes so I removed my contact lenses in favor of eyeglasses to avoid a calamity in the midst of trying to photograph the morning’s event. I had my 600mm with my Nikon D5 on a tripod to photograph the birds and my 18-35mm lens attached to my Nikon Df hanging from a strap so I could photograph the sunrise. New Mexico sunrises are legendary. I was not disappointed but the gorgeous colors and god beams disappeared within minutes and because the explosion of geese had already happened, no birds appear in this shot.
Wow!