Snow Geese at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge - No 1

It had been almost exactly 2 years since I had last traveled to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is located in the northwestern corner of Missouri, not far from the Nebraska border, and a good 5+ hours drive from my home in St. Louis County. With the long Christmas weekend, I had planned on trying to make the drive up there early Saturday morning. However, late Friday came confirmation that the wise and truly representative members of our federal government had decided to shut everything down for the good of the people they represent. Loess Bluffs, being run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would clearly be impacted.

I searched for quite some time on the interwebs (the source of all knowledge) and could find no confirmation on whether Loess Bluffs would be closed due to the government shut down. Most National Wildlife Refuges have Facebook sites, but nothing about the impact of the government shutdown was posted. It was too late in the evening to call the refuge office. In an act of desperation, I posted my question on their Facebook page, not expecting an answer. I was just about resigned to cancelling my trip when, at 8:43 p.m., I received an official response from the Refuge - - while the office would be closed due to the shutdown, the auto tour and trails would all remain open to the public. My trip was back on, thanks to the wonderful hard-working people at Loess Bluffs. Hopefully, this shut down will not last long and they will all be able to return to their jobs soon. I am truly grateful to the person who responded to my Facebook post after hours on a Friday evening.

I went straight to bed and woke to my alarm at 1:45 a.m. I was on the road by 2:15 a.m., and I pulled into the gate at Loess Bluffs about 5 hours later. I was not alone. Several other visitors were there who had obviously come to see what I had come to see - - thousands upon thousands of snow geese covering the wetland area and filling the sky (not to mention a lot of eagles, hawks and Trumpeter Swans).

The last time I was at Loess Bluffs, I had spent the night. This time, my plan was to spend the morning, and then turn around and be back home in time for dinner. 10+ hours of driving, plus several hours more driving around the refuge. It was a long drive back home that day. By the time I got home, I had just enough energy to eat dinner and jump back into bed.

© All rights reserved - - No Usage Allowed in Any Form Without the Written Consent of the photographer, Mark S. Schuver.

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Taken in: United States / Missouri / Holt (show map)

Taken on: December 22, 2018

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Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge

Snow Geese

Hawk

Holt County

Forest City

Mound City

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Camera: Nikon D800, f/6.3, 1/640 sec, 50mm, ISO 220 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D800
Lens:	50.0 mm f/1.4
Aperture:	f/6.3
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	220
Exposure Bias:	-2/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 (Windows)
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