Waiting for the cranes and snow geese

Whooping Swan adult
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

So I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the legendary Japanese Red Crowned cranes and the Snow geese. On my way back from class one day I passed over the Obihiro River which winds it's way thru the city and within about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. I spotted some large white birds on the river and rushed home to get the camera. I was very excited to capture these Snow geese on film. I returned to the river and they were gone so I made my way further down and spotted about 6 of them resting on the water. I parked, got bundled up and quietly made my way to the water's edge. I took photo's every step of the way as I was sure I would scare them away. 45 minutes later I had crawled thru the half frozen mud and had found a choice spot amongst the trees an arm's length away from the water. This particular bird swam over to me, regarded my position for about 20 seconds stretched out his very long neck, let out a hhhhhhoooonnnnkkkk swam back to the others and then the whole group tucked their necks close to their bodies and had a nap. Well, I'm glad I wasn't a disturbance or regarded as a threat! I'm also glad I chose to wear my Primaloft jacket instead of my down filled jacket! These birds are really big and obviously not scared of the likes of me at all! By the way, they ended up being swans and not geese. So I'm still waiting for the cranes and geese.