Coming in for a Landing

I really do like the Greater White-fronted Goose. I captured the landing of this one when I was at Creamer's Field Monday.
The flaps go up......

And the brakes are engaged.

Hitting the water, alongside his mate......

And touchdown!

Coasting to a stop, he created quite a splash.

There were a lot of pairs scattered across the field, splashing in the water and feeding.

The Greater White-fronted Goose breeds in Alaska and winters mainly in California, Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico. At Creamer's Field they are greatly outnumbered by the Canada Goose, but they are easy to spot with their bright orange legs and beaks. I have posted about them several times, and you can click HERE to see those posts.

Creamer's Field Barn and Field

When the sun is shining and spring is in the air the old dairy barns at Creamer's Field are especially lovely.
I think the cupolas are exquisite.

Up close to the barns here's a little different view than I normally shoot. To see more photos of the barn click on Creamer's Field Barn in the labels section of my sidebar.

Right now, though, what draws the most attention is what's happening in the fields. Most of the snow has melted and a good share of the fields are covered with water from the snow melt. The migrating birds are arriving in numbers, with a hundreds of Canada Geese and an increasing number of White-fronted Geese. Today I counted 10 Trumpeter Swans and at least four Sandhill Cranes. There were also some Mallards in the mix. The noise level is incredible.

Over the next several weeks I'll be posting lots more photos of the birds.
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Hop over to Tricia's Barn Charm to see more old barns.

Dropping by Creamer's Field

It's been a long flight north! I'm so glad we finally made it to Creamer's Field.Look at the sun reflecting off the birch trees. That tells me we're almost to our nesting grounds.

First let's catch up on all the gossip with our friends.

Meeting new folks is good too, but will you take a look at those orange legs!

A bit of grooming is really needed after such a long flight.

After all that flying I think I've got a cramp in my leg.

Time to get on with the search for some tasty morsels.

Ah, you can't beat a relaxing swim....

.....especially when it's with your sweetheart.

I think spending a day or two here before we continue on north is a good idea.

Maybe we'll settle down for the night near those trees. It's so good to spend a little time with everyone else traveling north, but finding a quiet corner to ourselves looks mighty good.

Geese and Sunset

We went to Creamer's Field to see the geese.....

....but the sunset stole the show!

It was just a little past 9:00 p.m. and mostly cloudy, so the light wasn't the best for goose watching and photography. Sunset right now is at about 10:15. There was still an hour to go until the sun went down, but the clouds changed things up a bit.

We do get some spectacular sunsets here in Fairbanks!

A Dairy Becomes a Waterfowl Refuge

Canada Geese flying in front of the old Creamer's Dairy Barns are a sign of a successful community effort to preserve the land and barns and provide an open space within the City of Fairbanks. The old dairy was put up for sale in 1966 and this area that is now a migratory waterfowl refuge could have been bought by land developers and turned into a field of houses. Instead the Alaskan Conservation Society formed and solicited donations from the community and raised $7,000 to obtain the option to purchase most of the land.

ACS held the option until the State of Alaska could legislate matching funds to accompany federal Pittman-Robertson funds to purchase the property. Those funds paid for 75% of the the land's price and are collected through a federal excise tax on guns and ammunition. State funds were available in 1968 and the state bought 246 acres for $250,000. Management was turned over to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and over the next three years the Fairbanks Wildlife Management Area was created to include the diary fields and 1,500 acres of adjacent state land still in its natural vegetation. The farm buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and in 1979 the area was named the Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. While the dairy farm was in operation migratory birds were stopping in the fields on their migrations north and south. Now Fish & Game spreads grain to attract the birds to the fields. This not only provides good viewing opportunities for the community to see the birds, but it also makes the fields more attractive to the birds than the ponds and fields around the airport. Over the last couple of years I've posted many photos of the activity at Creamer's Field and you can find those by clicking on the Creamer's Field label in the Labels section in my sidebar.

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Click on the barn below to hop over to Tricia's Barn Charm and see more old barns.

More Geese!

A quick trip to Creamer's Field late yesterday afternoon on our way home paid off. There were a lot more Canada Geese there. We saw about 100. They were a bit closer than they were on Thursday and there was some movement in the air too.

There was a large group of perhaps 75 when we arrived and after they took off another smaller group landed, but they only stayed about five minutes.

There was quite a bit of activity around the field.

The grain that was spread out was much appreciated.

Among the large group of Canada Geese was a pair of Greater White-fronted Geese.

I always enjoy seeing them, and I love their bright orange legs and beaks.

When the Canada Geese took off so did they. I wonder if they made the journey north with the Canadas.

Visiting Creamer's Field

The arrival of the Canada Geese in Fairbanks every spring is eagerly anticipated. It is a sign that spring is just around the corner. This year there was a report of five geese being sighted at Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge on April 7th and four more a few days later. I have stopped by the Field several times and only found an empty field. This afternoon though I finally saw some geese. They were a ways out and not close enough for really good photos, but it was good to see them and hear their honking. Two were off to one side on top of the snow, bringing the total I saw to 17.

It was a sunny afternoon, so the old dairy barns were a lovely sight with the sun reflecting off the metal roofs.

Furrows in the snow had been plowed at the end of March and the snow has melted quite a bit since then. To check the difference click HERE to go to the post I did earlier this month. Grain has been spread out to welcome the migrating birds. More attention has been paid to the fields than to the roads and viewing areas surrounding it. Someone had shoveled access to one of the viewing platforms, but the melting snow requires a bit of care to navigate. I chose to shoot from the car with the window down.

The road itself is not too inviting either.....

.....although it did make for a nice reflection shot. I'll be glad when breakup is over and spring arrives! It shouldn't be too much longer.

There are many birch trees around the field, and their white bark provides good photo opportunities. Before long they will be cloaked in green and beautiful in a different way.

In the next few weeks many more birds will be arriving at Creamer's Field on their way north, and I'll be be there with my camera. I hope they'll be in the mood to have their photos taken....

Squirrel Buffet

Here in Fairbanks spring is still a few weeks away, but we are in the midst of Breakup. The snow pack that has been on the ground since last October is melting but still has a ways to go, with perhaps a foot of snow still on the ground. Some of the critters that spend the winter snug in their burrows are coming out. The last couple of weeks we've seen this squirrel scurrying around. Today he discovered the peanut butter/suet mixture in the bird feeder. Last year we never saw him climb up the posts, but the finish is apparently not as slick after weathering for a few years. He spent some time nibbling, and then down again, quickly scurrying off into the woods to cache some of the goodies.

Very shortly he was back again, leaping from the post to the feeder.

He sat in the feeder munching as the feeder swung back and forth.

Several trips were made, up and down.

I do believe he likes peanut butter!

White Barn and White Geese

While I was in the Skagit Valley in Washington last week I saw this old white barn.

It was a wet rainy day and it looked a little forlorn sitting there in the rain.

In the field next to it were some Snow Geese. I think they were considerably happier to be out in the rain.

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To see more old barns hop on over to Tricia's Barn Charm by clicking on the barn below.