{"id":137610,"date":"2024-11-29T02:29:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T08:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=137610"},"modified":"2025-07-07T10:59:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:59:39","slug":"blizzards-of-snow-geese-now-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/29\/blizzards-of-snow-geese-now-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Blizzards Of Snow Geese Now At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blizzards of Snow Geese have arrived at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a>! I\u2019m so excited about all of the Snow Geese that I can barely contain myself. Wow!<\/p>\n

\"FlockFlock of Snow Geese in a field<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw and photographed Snow Geese in Utah, but I never got the flock photos I deeply wanted.<\/p>\n

My dear friend April Olson<\/span><\/a> and I had hoped to visit Delta, Utah, in early spring, when huge flocks of Snow Geese fly through the area on their way to their breeding grounds.<\/p>\n

Then COVID happened, and we never made it there together before I left Utah.<\/p>\n

\"SnowSnow Goose flock in early morning at Sequoyah NWR<\/span><\/p>\n

And now? Seeing the huge flocks of Snow Geese at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge is absolutely awesome. Watching and listening to them take off from the Arkansas River as they head to the fields at the refuge feels almost spiritual.<\/p>\n

That also brings back memories of flurries of Snow Geese I used to see during the colder months of the year in Virginia. I was awestruck by the geese then, and I still am.<\/p>\n

But I wasn\u2019t a bird photographer when I lived in Virginia, I just didn\u2019t have the gear I needed back then.<\/p>\n

\"FlockFlock of Snow Geese flying over Sequoyah NWR<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I do, though. It was so much fun for me to see, listen to, and photograph the geese on November 26th. Watching them fly into the fields, seeing them lift off, and observing them while they foraged was incredible. There were simply so many geese.<\/p>\n

\"SevenSeven Snow Geese in flight over Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/p>\n

There were adult and immature white morph Snow Geese, as well as dark morphs. The dark morphs, often called “Blue Geese,” show varying degrees of darkness.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne dark morph and three white morph Snow Geese in flight<\/span><\/p>\n

The light wasn’t always the best on the 26th, I simply tried to take the best photos I could of the geese given the conditions. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn’t.<\/p>\n

\"EightEight Snow Geese flying over Sequoyah NWR<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the large numbers of geese, it was challenging to figure out which ones to focus on. I did what I always do:<\/p>\n

The best I can.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature white morph Snow Geese in the front<\/span><\/p>\n

I was thrilled to take photos of some geese on the ground in the field. The immature Snow Geese seemed a little less skittish than the adults at times.<\/p>\n

\"SmallSmall gaggle of Snow Geese in a field<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the adults were more interested in chasing each other around or foraging for food which gave me several opportunities to photograph them too.<\/p>\n

\"BlizzardBlizzard of Snow Geese taking off at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday, Thanksgiving morning, was supposed to have clear skies at 8 a.m. That was not to be.<\/p>\n

The gray clouds hung low, looking like snow clouds until at least 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

That meant I had poor lighting conditions, but I also had some great opportunities with Snow Geese blasting off from the fields.<\/p>\n

\"FlockFlock of Snow Geese blasting off at Sequoyah NWR<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, despite the awful lighting conditions, I still had a blast photographing the Snow Geese at the refuge. And what\u2019s not to like about that?<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Snow Goose photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

All photos were taken with Canon R7 with a Canon EF 100-400mm II lens attached. Most, were handheld. On the 26th of November the light was varied, on the 28th of November the light was, well, pretty dreadful!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blizzards of Snow Geese have arrived at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge! I\u2019m so excited about all of the Snow Geese that I can barely contain myself. Wow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13973,13974,1971],"tags":[4513,970,9888,2757,16007,16006,13984,4530,4224,4620,1124,4052,4247,4122,10988,14688,713,4775,5381,4067,4944,14021,14020,16008,4018,4514,1972,5428,4076,2063,4186,4193],"class_list":["post-137610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","category-snow-geese","tag-anser-caerulescens","tag-autumn","tag-blasting-off","tag-blizzard","tag-blue-geese","tag-blue-morph","tag-bottomlands","tag-dark-morph","tag-early-morning","tag-fall","tag-field","tag-flight","tag-flock","tag-flying","tag-front","tag-gaggle","tag-geese","tag-goose","tag-hatch-year","tag-immature","tag-lifting-off","tag-oklahoma","tag-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-sequoyah-nwr","tag-sky","tag-snow-geese","tag-snow-goose","tag-taking-off","tag-trees","tag-waterfowl","tag-white-morph","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/snow-geese-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3778.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-zNw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":170898,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/03\/02\/rosss-goose-in-a-flock-of-snow-geese\/","url_meta":{"origin":137610,"position":0},"title":"Ross’s Goose In A Flock Of Snow Geese","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This Ross's Goose was in front of a large flock of Snow Geese last Friday at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, and I felt fortunate to have a clear view of the goose.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ross's Goose in a flock of Snow Geese, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rosss-goose-adult-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9428.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rosss-goose-adult-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9428.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rosss-goose-adult-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9428.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rosss-goose-adult-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9428.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138977,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/26\/more-snow-snow-geese-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":137610,"position":1},"title":"More Snow: Snow Geese At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I\u2019m writing about more \u201csnow\u201d, but not the fluffy, melty kind. Nope, it\u2019s the live, honking, feathered kind. By that, I mean beautiful Snow Geese.","rel":"","context":"In "Oklahoma"","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snow Geese in a corn field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/snow-geese-corn-field-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-1781.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/snow-geese-corn-field-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-1781.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/snow-geese-corn-field-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-1781.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/snow-geese-corn-field-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-1781.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140944,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/26\/eureka-rosss-goose-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":137610,"position":2},"title":"Eureka! 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Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/snow-geese-blue-morph-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5389.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/snow-geese-blue-morph-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5389.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/snow-geese-blue-morph-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5389.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/snow-geese-blue-morph-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5389.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138591,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/09\/swirling-vortex-of-snow-geese-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":137610,"position":4},"title":"Swirling Vortex 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