Middle Creek-Dramatic Sunrise and Snow Geese

Middle Creek Sunrise: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 24-105mm@105- ISO 200-1/250 -f 8.0

After the snow on Friday, it was partly cloudy on Saturday morning with patchy fog which made for dramatic sunrise photos. Only  a few geese were visible from the main viewing area where Hopeland road passes by the side of the lake.

Foggy Morning Sunrise: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 24-105mm@58mm- ISO 200-1/800 -f 8.0

It turned out there were still enough snow geese present  for excellent photography, but most of them were roosting in the Willow Point area and were not visible from Hopeland Road.  Large numbers of them flew over the tour road at the north end of the lake as they left the lake later in the morning, but it was foggy and there was not much chance for good photos.

That changed in the afternoon when a large number of geese congregated in the fields around the intersection of Chapel Road and the Tour Road.

Snow Geese Along Tour Road: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 24-105mm@105- ISO 200-1/250 -f 8.0

This was an excellent opportunity to work on  capturing the birds in flight and during landing.

Blue-phase Snow Goose: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 600mm f 4 IS L -ISO 640-1/2000 sec.-f  10

 Snow Goose: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 600mm f 4 IS L -ISO 640-1/2000 sec.-f  10

Snow Goose Landing: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 600mm f 4 IS L -ISO 200-1/1600 sec.-f 8

Snow Goose Landing: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 600mm f 4 IS L -ISO 200-1/1600 sec.-f 8

It seems that the Canon 7D MK II works quite well in situations such as this and overall I was very pleased with how the camera performed.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Middle Creek Snow Day

Thursday of last week was a beautiful late winter day, but snow was in the forecast for Friday March 20th, the first day of spring. I decided that if it was snowing heavily in the morning I would not got to Middle Creek, but only an occasional flake was in the air at 5:30 Friday morning so I hit the road for the 45 minute drive from southern York County.  There was a light coating of snow when I arrived and light snowfall continued most of the day.

Tour Road: Canon 70D-Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 EF STM@18mm-ISO 200-1/500sec. f 10.0

 It seemed that most of the snow geese and tundra swans on the lake were at Willow Point, which is some distance from the road and I did not walk there so on the whole today was not a good day for filming or photographing these species, but enough wildlife was visible to still make for an interesting day.

In mid-morning I sighted a flock of turkeys between Hopeland Road and the PGC maintenance  buildings. It was a mixed flock of hens and gobblers and several of the mature birds were strutting.  I failed to notice that the 7D MK II was set on ISO 1000 and this and the flat quality of the light resulted in poor detail in the photos from that sighting.

Wild Turkeys: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 100-400mm IS II L f4.5-5.6 @300mm-ISO 1000-1/2000sec. f 5.0

A short time later I found two pheasants feeding in corn stubble along the tour road.  They were a bit shy and began moving away as soon as I stopped , but I captured a few frames before they moved too deep in the corn to photography them.

Ring-necked Pheasants: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 100-400mm IS II L  f4.5-5.6 @400mm-ISO -400-1/500sec.f5.0

Two Canada Geese were standing in the meadow by the roadside, a bit further along the tour road.

Canada Geese: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 100-400mm IS II L  f4.5-5.6 @400mm-ISO -400-1/500sec.f5.0

 Later in the morning I found a small flock of snow geese along Chapel Road.  In fact they were in the field directly in front of the Chapel.  I stopped in the parking lot and sat there with the window lowered and the camera and lens resting on the window-sill.  At one point another vehicle drove past and the flock lifted into the air and then dropped back down to feed.

Snow Geese In Flight: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 100-400mm IS II L  f4.5-5.6  @176mm-ISO -400-1/1250 sec. f 6.3

Snow Geese : Canon 7D MK II-Canon 100-400mm IS II L  f4.5-5.6 @400mm-ISO -400-1/500 sec.f 8.0

Snow Geese Feeding: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 100-400mm IS II L  f4.5-5.6 @400mm-ISO -400-1/1000 sec.f  5.6

Almost any day afield is a good day and while this one was far from exceptional it was still a day well spent. The weather forecast for the remainder of the trip was promising, but the main concern was if substantial numbers of snow geese would still be there. On March 16th the Pennsylvania Game Commission had reported 110,000 snow geese and by the day before the snow numbers were down to 65,000. That was still enough geese for exceptional filming and photography, but the situation can change quickly and it was possible that the best activity was over.  The events of the next few day s would provide the answer.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Middle Creek 2014 Part I

Tundra Swans In Flight: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 600mm F4 IS+1.4x extender-ISO 200-1/2000 sec. f 5.6

Originally I planned to spend several days at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area during late February-early March as this is usually the peak of the spring migration for tundra swans and snow geese.  As everyone knows the migration was delayed this year because of the severe winter and when the peak occurred the lake and potholes were still mostly ice covered.  I like to go when I can film the various species of ducks, so I waited until most of the ice was gone and  didn't go to Middle Creek until last Saturday morning, March 22nd, which meant that I missed the peak of the snow geese migration.  According to the PGC website there were about 60,000 snow geese and 5,000 tundra swans on March 17th with the number reportedly still about the same  on March 20th, but numbers plummeted over the weekend and were down to an estimated 6,000 snow geese and 2,500 tundra swans by Sunday morning, March 23rd.


There were quite a few tundra swans, snow geese, and Canada geese visible where Hopeland Road passes by the edge of the lake on Saturday Morning and many remained throughout the day.

Snow Geese and Tundra Swans: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 600mm F4 IS-ISO 200-1/800 sec. f 11.0

 In mid to late afternoon snow geese congregated in a field just up the road from where the lake is near the road.

Distant Flock: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 600mm F4 IS-ISO 400-1/1000 sec. f 11.0

Soon a large group of photographers and bird watchers gathered in that area and I joined the throng to get some close photographs and video of the flock.  This time I  concentrated on video and carried the Panasonic GH3 and GH2 the video tripod and carried the 7D with 70-200mm f 2.8 around my neck to use for flying shots.  I came to regret that I left the 600mm and 500mm in the car as there were some exceptional opportunities to capture the geese landing in the late evening light. I took several stills with the GH3 and the 100-300mm and it performed reasonably well. I love the perspective in the photo below as the geese were on top of a small rise in the field and I sat down so get a low angle which I think makes the birds more impressive looking.

Snow Geese Up Close: Panasonic GH3- Lumix 100-300mm f 4.0-5.6 @ 300mm-ISO 200-1/125 sec. f 11.0

I hoped the entire flock would take-off at once as often happens, but this was not to be or at least it had not happened by the time I left at sundown.  In several cases smaller groups took flight  and  I captured a few frames of this with the 7D and 70-200mm.

Lift-off: Canon 7D-Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS II@ 70mm-ISO 400-1/2500 sec. f 5.0

With this the first day of the trip came to an end. I returned to photograph on Sunday morning,spent the entire day there on Monday and Tuesday, and photographed on Wednesday morning before leaving for home.

I plan to post more Middle Creek photos within the next few days.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

More Photographs From Middle Creek

Middle Creek Lake: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 14-140 f4.0-5.8@25mm-ISO 200 1/25 sec. f 5.6

Middle Creek can provide beautiful scenic photos at sunrise and I like to be positioned to take advantage of the situation well before daylight.  The lighting conditions were correct for this on two of the three mornings that I was there this year, but the large flocks of Snow Geese and Tundra Swans were not there as in years past.  After the morning lift-off, it is time to work the rest of the area.  Usually the pothole just across the road from Middle Creek Lake is filled with different species of ducks, but that was not the case during my time there this year..  There were only a few species and most of them remained on the far side of the pothole, which is too far for good still photographs.  A few Canada Geese and Ring-necked Ducks did venture close enough for photography, but the Ring-necks were still too far away for top-notch portraits as the images had to be cropped severely to make the image large enough for visual impact.

Ring-necked Duck: Canon 5D MK III-500mm f4.0-ISO 1600 1/400 sec. f 4.5

The Panasonic GH3 worked reasonably well for still photos in this situation, but the most powerful Panasonic lens I have is the 100-300 f. 3.5--5.6, so I pressed the Canon 500mm f4.0 into service, which was mounted to the GH3 by use of the Redrock Micro MFT adapter.  This enables one to control the lens aperture, but the IS and auto-focus are not functional with the adapter so it is manual all of the way.  I missed focus on quite a few shots with this rig and some shots were blurred because of the strong wind gusts that buffeted the camera, but several usable photos were captured.  The 2X crop factor of the Panasonic MFT sensor is a plus in this situation as it gives the 500mm and equivalent focal length of 1000mm, just as using a 2X extender does, but it works better than the extender in that there is no light loss, so the lens is still an f 4.0 at maximum aperture.   I have the  1.4X II and 2X II extenders and not the latest III versions. Both degrade the image from the 500mm enough that I prefer not to use them and instead crop more severely.  The photo above is cropped an extreme amount--much more than I prefer to do, but nonetheless it  looks very good (at least to me) at internet viewing size, but I would hesitate to print it or submit it for consideration to a magazine.

The photos shown below, taken with the GH3, were also cropped a significant amount, but not nearly as much so as the one with the 5D MK III.

Ring-neck Duck: Panasonic GH3-Canon 500mm f 4.0-ISO 200 1/640 sec. f 4.5

Ring-neck Duck: Panasonic GH3-Canon 500mm f 4.0-ISO 200 1/800sec. f 4.5

Waterfowl is especially difficult to photograph on overcast days or at long range and the problem is compounded when these factors are combined, as the photo of the flock of Common Mergansers shown below demonstrates.

Common Mergansers: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 100-300 f 4.0--5.6-ISO 400 1/100sec. f5.6

I  featured wildlife photographer Dan Gomola in a post some time ago, but did not realize that he had launched a blog in conjunction with his website.  We exchanged e-mails recently about the problems inherent in photographing waterfowl and Dan directed me to his Blog.   He has written an excellent post about this subject and published several fine images.  There are numerous other posts as well, featuring subjects ranging from a discussion of HDR imaging, to stunning photos of scenery, wildlife, and other subjects.  To visit click, Here or go to Dan Gomola's Blog in the sidebar.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.