Bosque snowy weather and snow geese

[laurie golden]

Socorro had 9" of snow yesterday, the freeway and refuge closed. We are hoping for clearer roads tomorrow. This photo taken a few days ago after a light snow.

Nikon D3S, 500mm
ISO 800, F8, 1/1000 sec
Manual exposure

[Melissa Groo]

I really like the composition and environmental feel of this, Laurie. Love those hills in the BG, the cloud mottled sky, and the soft light and colors. Really has a painterly feel to it.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

I really like this one. The mountains make all the difference. It can go a little brighter I think. Good to see no merge and good angle on three birds.

[Sachin Saraf]

This is wonderful image...Nice to see all three in focus and mountain really add to this one....I agree with KD about making this one little more brighter...

[gail bisson]

Great environmental shot. Agree about brightening the shot,
Gail

[Morkel Erasmus]

This is really nice, love the mountains in the BG. Agree that this can do with a levels/curves lift to add some "pop"...

[dankearl]

It seems bright enough on my monitor.
Very nice "landscape" photo. Different from the usual Bosque photos and
has a nice feel to it.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very nice. Love the sense of altitude here, and great that you got some blue sky peeking through the clouds. I do wish the two lower birds weren't so close together.

Hope the conditions are better for you tomorrow!!

[laurie golden]

Thank you all for your comments. I have tried to adjust so that there is a little pop and have attached my best attempt.

Our best guess on the weather is that Bosque will be closed again tomorrow. They have not plowed and the snow has not melted so it looks like another day of being able to photograph at the crane pools only.

[Robert Holguin]

Real nice shot. I like the comp and the snow covered mountains. The repost is much better.
Well done.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot, I prefer the more subtle colours of the first post, I think it captures the cold atmospheric conditions more effectively.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Laurie, I love the placement of the birds in the frame and the snow-covered mountains. The near-wing positions are less then ideal, likely due to the wind direction; an east wind would have been nice. I would have also preferred a bit more space between the two bottom birds.

Thanks so much for keeping folks up to date on the current Bosque conditions. I am hoping that you can continue to do so here. I placed a link to this thread in a BAA Notes that I sent at 7:30 on 7 DEC. You can see the mention here.

How were conditions before the snow hit? Do you know if you are allowed to walk into the refuge? If you are and you see the geese landing in the main impoundment just past the pay booth as they often do in mid-morning or mid-afternoon, it would likely be worth the short walk. When are you headed home?

[Hayath Mohammed]

Laurie,
Congrats on a fine image with tons of environment - that sure helps recall the image against the others!

I'm quite liking the second version of your image, the pop sure helps. Though the first image on it's own will still be very nice.

Cheers,
Hayath

[laurie golden]

Artie,

-7 degrees at the reserve this morning (Wednesday). We got up for breakfast with the others at the Super 8 at 4:30am. Some were going to the crane pool for the flyout. We stayed in town because the roads are so bad and it did not seem to be worth the drive if the reserve was closed.

The reserve is still closed today and have no word on when it will be open. They will not let anyone walk in because of snow drifts. We think that liability may be the real reason. There is no place to park at the visitor center but they are open. They have plowed the residential area only. The weather forecast for today has a high of 28-33 depending on which forecast you look at so we do not expect much improvement.

I will be here through the 13th of December so will get back in but so many that are here are leaving sooner. I talked to a guy from Ireland yesterday that is going home on Sunday. He said that coming here has been a dream of his for many years.

Laurie

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the update Laurie! It sounds as if you did a smart thing staying in today. How did you know it was -7 at the refuge if you stayed in .

Last thing for now: how were conditions before the storm hit?

Any and all future updates will surely be appreciated by everyone.

[laurie golden]

Artie,

We did call the reserve today at 7:30 to get the latest news.

Before this storm hit there was a smaller storm - On December 1st a very strong wind hit - max 50mph. I spent the evening at the crane pool where we were all blasted with sand while we tried to get landing cranes. The wind was from the east so the flight deck was not a good place to be. Then we had an inch of snow overnight which you can see in my photo that was taken on the 3rd. We have had mostly cloudy days with no sunrises until after the snow stopped falling. Beautiful clear skys since the 5th.

The farm loop and the alternative route have had a few opportunities to get landing cranes and geese but wind was never perfect with side shot the best we got.

Laurie

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Laurie, I asked because the temps in Socorro are often 20 or more degrees warmer than at the Refuge. Thanks for the additional info. It sounds as if I and my group lucked out on all counts..... Good luck during the next week.