{"id":138591,"date":"2025-01-09T03:23:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T09:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=138591"},"modified":"2025-07-07T10:33:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:33:52","slug":"swirling-vortex-of-snow-geese-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/09\/swirling-vortex-of-snow-geese-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Swirling Vortex Of Snow Geese At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience with a swirling vortex of Snow Geese circling over my head at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

\"SwirlingSwirling vortex of Snow Geese at Sequoyah NWR \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/4000, ISO 1250, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There is magic in the field, and yesterday, I was reminded of it once again. This photo? It\u2019s not great, but it conveys the swirling geese well.<\/p>\n

I was standing on the gravel road, photographing the geese in the fields on both sides of the road, when something I could not see caused all the geese to blast off simultaneously. As I stood there, photographing the geese at the refuge<\/span><\/a>, they began to circle over me.<\/p>\n

I could hear their calls and the sound of their wings and felt as if I were somehow part of this flock of geese, that I, for a very brief moment, had taken flight with them.\u00a0 I’ve photographed flocks of Snow Geese before but never felt as if I were part of the flock, yesterday, I did.<\/p>\n

I was mesmerized, gobsmacked, even. Enchanted. I got goosebumps, and not because of the frigidly cold air.<\/p>\n

Nature puts on the most amazing true-life shows.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience with a swirling vortex of Snow Geese circling over my head at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138593,"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":[4513,13984,1124,4052,4247,4122,713,4775,13838,16008,4514,14728,16146,2063,373],"class_list":["post-138591","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-bottomlands","tag-field","tag-flight","tag-flock","tag-flying","tag-geese","tag-goose","tag-magic","tag-sequoyah-nwr","tag-snow-geese","tag-swirling","tag-vortex","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/snow-geese-vortex-flock-flight-mia-mcpherson-4659.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-A3l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":137610,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/29\/blizzards-of-snow-geese-now-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":138591,"position":0},"title":"Blizzards Of Snow Geese Now At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"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!","rel":"","context":"In "Oklahoma"","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flock of Snow Geese blasting off at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/snow-geese-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3778.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/snow-geese-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3778.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/snow-geese-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3778.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/snow-geese-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3778.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":164963,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/11\/28\/bumper-to-bumper-snow-geese-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":138591,"position":1},"title":"Bumper To Bumper Snow Geese At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I went back to Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge for Thanksgiving yesterday, and I was treated to a flurry of Snow Geese in great light not long after sunrise.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Snow Geese in flight on Thanksgiving Day, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/snow-geese-bumper-to-bumper-mia-mcpherson-1211.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/snow-geese-bumper-to-bumper-mia-mcpherson-1211.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/snow-geese-bumper-to-bumper-mia-mcpherson-1211.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/snow-geese-bumper-to-bumper-mia-mcpherson-1211.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":138591,"position":2},"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":139004,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/28\/january-journey-to-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":138591,"position":3},"title":"January Journey To Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"My journeys to Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma are always wonderful, even when I don\u2019t take many photos or the weather isn\u2019t all that great.","rel":"","context":"In "Great Blue Herons"","block_context":{"text":"Great Blue Herons","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/wading-birds\/great-blue-herons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron hunting in a slough at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-slough-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-2075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-slough-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-2075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-slough-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-2075.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-slough-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-2075.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133126,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/08\/25\/flock-of-canada-geese-in-a-soy-bean-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":138591,"position":4},"title":"Flock Of Canada Geese In A Soy Bean Field","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It has dawned on me that I haven't shared any Canada Geese photos since I left Utah in April. Today, it is time to rectify that with these geese in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Canada Geese in a soy bean field at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/canada-geese-soy-bean-field-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-7x5-4712.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/canada-geese-soy-bean-field-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-7x5-4712.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/canada-geese-soy-bean-field-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-7x5-4712.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/canada-geese-soy-bean-field-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-7x5-4712.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":138591,"position":5},"title":"Eureka! Ross’s Goose Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago, I was more than delighted to photograph a Ross\u2019s Goose at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in between photographing a young Sandhill Crane.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Resting white morph Ross's Goose at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/rosss-goose-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-5715.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/rosss-goose-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-5715.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/rosss-goose-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-5715.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/rosss-goose-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-5715.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}