Dark winter's day at Nisqually Refuge


Canada geese filling the sky above Nisqually Refuge
Olympia, Washington
February 2020

As many as 5,000 geese spend their winters at Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Visitors are serenaded by the geese's cackling chatter as the birds graze in the refuge's fields.

The real show begins when a Bald eagle or other large raptor makes its appearance in the area. Suddenly, a thousand geese or more take to the sky in one large orchestral crescendo. Warning honks are joined by the sound of powerful wing beats. In less than a half minute, the geese are in the air. Their wide wings and long necks form silhouettes in the sky.

The geese flying in large mile-wide circles above the refuge and surrounding farms. They fly away from the danger and spread themselves out to outwit the predator.

Then, just as suddenly as the flock took off, they begin to land again. Tail-feathers extended downward slow their flight to a near stand-still. The birds land gracefully on the ground. Soon they are busy foraging for food again.

And thus goes the circle of winter days at Nisqually Refuge.