Chen caerulescens

It’s my father’s birthday – April 25th. My father passed away almost 3 years ago and I was inspired to mention all this on account of running into a few geese today.

Thousands of snow geese momentarily took to the air and then settled down again quickly to continue feeding. Migration stopover at Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec on the St. Lawrence River.

I’ve been touring Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec and I have many images to sift through; most are kite aerial photographs. But I’m jumping ahead to these shots that I took today because of the link between geese and my father. Dad was repeatedly amazed by the semiannual migration of Canada geese, thousands of which flew over Ottawa each fall and spring. We were frequently the beneficiaries of updates in the numbers he’d seen on a given day. Dad liked to talk …. and geese were one of his favourite topics.

Well today, on the anniversary of his birth, it was my last day on the road after a 2 week road trip. I had ample time and as is my habit, I chose to avoid the express trans-canada highway and I drove along #132 which goes along the Saint Lawrence River. There was a horrendous wind so I tuned myself out from the habitual search for Kite Aerial Photography prospects and leisurely decided to take the day as it comes. As I passed by the smallest of the smallest of city parks in the village of Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, a major flash of white took my attention out towards the river. I stopped immediately when I realized it was the largest flock of geese I had seen in my life. They were snow geese and although not the Canada geese which preoccupied much of my Dad’s attention, they were nevertheless migrating geese. It seemed appropriate that on April 25th I should spend time photographing them.

Snow geese migration stopover at Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec on the St. Lawrence River

There was a smaller group of geese downstream (maybe 1000) and they were coming in groups of a few to 25 at a time to join the larger flock. There was a major headwind which slowed them down enough to improve the odds of getting a good shot of geese in flight.