Flight
When returning to Albuquerque from Alamogordo, I found time to stop at the Bosque del Apache for a quick look around not knowing what I would see that time of year. It was my first visit. A ranger at the visitor center directed me to a location where I could see some sandhill cranes and snow geese. A short walk from the parking area led me to an elevated viewing platform that provided a splendid view of the marsh. A gaggle of snow geese stretching for a hundred yards or more was feeding peacefully, contentedly honking and murmuring. That all changed when a raptor landed in the middle of the gaggle, panicking the birds. In one enormous motion, they all took flight. The sound was deafening but the sight of thousands of birds in flight was like watching a ballet. They circled the marsh four or five time before they landed and resumed their peaceful feeding as if nothing had happened.
Some other photographers were there as well. A couple of them had cameras with rocket launchers for lenses. Great for shooting birds' nostrils. Sadly for them, they missed the dramatic vista of the flight of thousands of geese.