Last Saturday the refuge had about 2,000 Brant and 4.000 Snow Geese, according to estimates made by other birders. Shortly after I arrived, the Brants took off and darkened part of the sky.
About a mile away from the Brants were many Snow Geese scattered among several refuge pools. Some seemed to be sleeping while others were intensively foraging for food. They are voracious vegetarians that only leave after they have consumed everything possible such as grasses, leaves, tubers, roots.
For about 15 minutes, small groups of Snow Geese flew in to join the groups near where I was stationed.
There were a few minutes of calm after all the arriving Snow Geese landed. Then suddenly all the Snow Geese took off, filling that part of the refuge with loud noises of thousands of wings flapping and some honking noises. I was caught by surprise and could only hope that the auto focus on my camera worked.