Sunday, March 16, 2014

Middle Creek WMA

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 


Wishing everyone a Happy Saint Patrick's Day!..and here is an Irish blessing for you!



Middle Creak Wildlife Management Area includes a 400 acre impoundment. It is a prime destination for the wildlife and for people who enjoy seeing wildlife..Hubby and I were surprised at the number of cars on the wildlife tour. It seems everyone knew the Snow Geese arrived.. The self -guided driving tour is open from March 1 to September 15.



Middle Creek WMA is nestled in the middle of farmland on the border of Lancaster county and Lebanon county, Pennsylvania. It was created as a waterfowl refuge for the Canada Geese flyway. The big attraction is seeing the Snow Geese are making their way back to their breeding grounds to the tundra of Northern Canada and Alaska.



If they feel threatened at times the flock of Snow Geese will lift off and make lots of noise..


We also saw some pretty Killdeer along with a group of Ring-bill Gulls..



More Tundra Swans coming in for a landing..It was easy to tell  the Tundra Swans apart from the Snow Geese.  The Tundra Swans are all white underneath and the Snow Geese have some black on their wings.


It is like being in a snow storm when the Snow Geese come swirling down from the sky. From the 1970's up to the present the Snow Geese numbers increased over the years along with the numbers of Tundra Swans.  It was reported this week as many as 60,000 Snow Geese were seen and close to 5000 Tundra Swans.. Definitely a cool sight to see and hear.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the Snow Geese and Tundra Swans..if you are in the area it is a great place to stop and see. I am ending my post with another cute Irish blessing and wish for you.

Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too
And a host of friends that never ends
each day your whole life through!



Thanks for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.
Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit  Mosaic Monday and more
 from  Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

76 comments:

  1. Fotos muito lindas! Ótima semana!beijos,chica

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  2. Thanks so much for this posting, Eileen! I am going to try to visit Middle Creek sometime in April; I'm not teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester, so that may be possible. It's not too far from Emmitsburg, I think.

    Best wishes from Anne

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  3. Such an amazing sight all those Snow Geese in the air together. I think if I lived within driving distance I would be one of those turning out to witness the spectacle. How unusual to see all those Killdeer with the gulls like that - to me at least.

    Have a great week Eileen.

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  4. Happy St. Patrick's Day!! i love this holiday. Irish, green & luck!! perfect in my book. ( :

    i love how you find so many birds flying off all at once. neat times!!

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  5. Very impressive number of birds!
    I like the Kideers with their rings around the neck!
    I missed you Saturday critters, I'll catch up just now!! ;-)

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  6. Beautiful pictures, Eileen,
    Very nice swans in the blue sky.
    Greetings Irma

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  7. We have Snow Geese and Tundra and Trumpeter Swans (the two swans flock together) out here on the west coast too and it is magical when the Snow Geese fly up. We some some in a distant field yesterday - and then saw a hawk - I was trying to get a picture of the hawk, when all of a sudden the Snow Geese flew up - guess the hawk frightened them - but I got a good photo and so far as I can tell, no lunch was had by the hawk at that time.

    Your photos and collage are wonderful.

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  8. WOW! I've never seen Snow Geese or Killdeer...lucky you!!!...:)JP

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  9. Beautiful, Eileen. I usually catch the migrations as we head out west in March, but having to stay home ---we're missing it
    :(

    You got some nice shots.
    I can almost "hear" them!

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  10. WoW, i have never seen anything like this!!

    i wrote down the name of this place, added it to my must visit list!!

    have a happy sunday!!

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  11. Quite the site to see . . . bet the sound too!
    How can they possibly count?

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  12. What wonderful photographs, all amazing and awesome shots!

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  13. Hello Eileen!
    Happy St. Patrick's Day!!I like your Irish blessing!And i love Ireland!!Woderful collages and photos!Its amazing seeing the
    storm of the Snow Geese!!Such beautiful birds!!Thank you for sharing this beauty!Wish you a happy week!Hugs!!
    Dimi...

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  14. That flock of Snow Geese is quite impressive! It really does resemble a snow storm!!

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  15. Wow, what an amazing sight that must have been! Thanks for sharing, Eileen, and happy St. Patrick's Day to you, too. xo

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  16. Beautiful. So many birds all in one place.

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  17. Wow when those snow geese all take off it's quite a large flock! I really enjoyed your shots of this.

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  18. In the Netherlands, Saint Patrick's Day is actually unknown. I always hear about elsewhere on TV abroad. Beautiful tribute you geplaatsts for this day.

    And what a bird I see in your blog wow ....... really huge swarms. what will be a pretty face but also a noise have been :-)

    Dear greetings, Helma

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  19. wow! what a show the geese put on ... exciting! lovely shots. looks like the drive was worth it. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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  20. The Killdeer and Snow Geese on St. Patrick's Day. Have a nice one Eileen.

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  21. What an amazing sight! It would take your breath away to see them all in flight! Thanks for the blessing. Blessings to you, too and sweet hugs my friend!

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  22. great wishes from the Irish, and beautiful collages also; thanks Eileen

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  23. You always have such good photos. Happy St. Pats day to you too. I think you changed your header---beautiful!

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  24. Wow, so many birds in that flock. We get Trumpeter Swans here every winter.

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  25. That is a huge flock of geese. I can imagine the racket they made.
    Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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  26. Being with this many snow geese must have been an amazing experience. Love the lift off photo....thanks for sharing!

    Have a great week,
    Ruby

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  27. Great photos Eileen. They are always a pleasure to see.

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  28. I would love to see snow geeze as we don´t have them. :)

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  29. The flock of snow geese is awesome. I fear our killdeers have lost their nesting area with the latest subdivision going in. Rather neat to see so many together at once.

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  30. These are just spectacular shots, Eileen. Just beautiful..

    I am waiting to see if the killdeer coming back to my neighborhood this year..

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  31. It must have been amazing to see all those Snow Geese lifting off at one time. This looks like a great place for a birder.

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  32. Blessings to you, too. Wonderful shots. We've seen huge numbers of the Snow Geese and Tundra Swans at Mackay Island WR in NC. It is an impressive sea of white.

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  33. The plenitude of snow geese migrating is amazing, Eileen! I loved all your photos of them. They really do look like snow when they are all on the ground and flying.

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  34. Thank you for the Irish blessings and thank you even more for the birds...it is so amazing to see them in such sheer numbers. And such good news that there are that many.

    Happy St Pat's Day to you.

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  35. Happy St Patrick's Day. What a fabulous sight the geese make.

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  36. Oh Eileen, how exciting! I had no idea that the snow-geese and tundra swans even came through our time zone. I used to love seeing them when we lived in Alaska, and I will have to remember this for next year and plan a trip. Thanks for sharing your great photos of what I know is a fun and special day!

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  37. Hi Eileen, Wow those swans are nifty. I am blogging tomorrow about a Mute Swan I saw last Wednesday. Did not have a camera so no pictures of the beautiful, wild, bird. Your series of pictures today are wonderful! Have a super nice St. Patrick's Day!

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  38. Beautiful images of the flying birds.

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  39. So amazing! and how wonderful the numbers are increasing rather than decreasing...
    thank you for sharing with us!

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  40. Hello Eileen, it's so lovely to catch up and see your beautiful bird photography again.
    I would love to see snow geese for real!
    A truly magical experience that you see so often.
    I love your Irish Blessing!
    Hugs
    Shane

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  41. Happy St. Patrick's Day Eileen! Love the shots of the killdeer. xo

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  42. For seeing so many birds migrating I should be going into Danube Delta, the ideal place for such natural wild events... So, seeing this beauty shared by you, all I can say it's wow... lots of geese and swans and so beautiful sights (and so lovely the irish blessing, too!). Thanks for sharing and may you have a nice holiday of Saint Patrick's Day!

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  43. A lovely post Eileen. All great photos! An amazing sight to see all those geese and the photo of the swans flying with a gorgeous blue sky above them? Gorgeous! Loved the Irish Blessings too. Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

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  44. Dearest Eileen;
    Happy Saint Patrick's Day! And thank you very much for the 'Irish blessing'. I LOVED it very much♡♡♡
    Wow, you startled me with the Middle Creek WMA area. I thought "No one may be able to count the number of the flock of Snow Geese" and then I read the number of the Snow Geese and Tundra Swans you wrote, wow!!!
    Nature is not fair, p;)
    They are really AMAZING.

    Have a WONDERFUL new week, my friend.
    Sending you Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*

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  45. Must be amazing to see so many wild Snow Geese, I've seen very few being from the UK, we don't get many the large flocks are usually white fronts, pink feet or Barnacle, but I don't think Ive seen 60000 in once place would be amazing

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  46. Hi Eileen, I've just nominated you for the Lighthouse Blogging Award. You can read more here: http://craftygreenpoet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/blogging-award-lighthouse-award.html

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  47. Wow, what a lot of geese! Great shots Eileen.

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  48. The geese shots are amazing!!! The Irish Blessing was nice, too. I've seen so many today, but not one the same. The Irish know how to write a blessing, don't they? :)

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  49. Hi Eileen.
    What a beautiful wish. As always I love your bird photo's and the bird in your header with the peanut in his mouth is gorgeous. Have a happy week.

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  50. Terrific shots of the birds in your world, Eileen!! Thanks as always for sharing the beauty and the fun! Hope you have a great new week!!

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  51. The flocks of snow geese are amazing! I have seen hundreds of Canada geese here, but not the snow geese.

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  52. I can't imagine what it must be like to see such huge flocks of birds rise as one.

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  53. wonderful collage of photos and other lovely ones also ~ Happy St. Paddy's Day to you ~ xxx

    artmusedog and carol

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  54. You take such wonderful shots when birding.

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  55. The geese against the blue, blue sky is fantastic.

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  56. A great series of photos and wonderful to see so many birds resting together. Its good to know there are refuges like this along the flyway.

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  57. OMG, it´s snowing birds. :) How cool is that?

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  58. That's a beautiful place! The flock of geese is very impressive! We never get that many here. Not all at once, anyway.

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  59. Thank you for those lovely Irish blessings and all those massed effects of snow geese.

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  60. Enjoyed all the pics - thanks for sharing with us. I always enjoying seeing what you have to share - sort of like a mini vacation. :)
    Happy St. Paddy's Day!
    Thanks for stopping by.

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  61. Fabulous shots, Eileen! Although we'll see Snow Geese migrating though here on their way north we won't see them in such large concentrations. Well worth the drive!

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  62. oh what an amazing site it must be with all those snow geese swooping and diving and swirling.
    It looks like springs is on its way for you. Have a wonderful week. and thanks for stopping by my blog to say hi.

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  63. So incredible, love all of those Geese, just amazing! I can ony image the sounds all of those Geese would make ;)

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  64. Wow Eileen...great shots. You are a natural out there.

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  65. This is awesome! A birders paradise and would love to visit here. Thanks for sharing.

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  66. Amazing shots of the snow geese-- and Swans!!

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