Figure 1 – Embden geese, Morton Park, Wellesley, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

This past weekend was the absolute peak foliage weekend.  Unfortunately the weather was less than obliging.  Sunday was cold and a bit damp.  Still the colors were magnificent, and I took a short trip through the woods at Morton Park in Wellesley, MA.  The geese were out in force and the water dark and leaf covered.  I was hand-holding my 200 mm lens again but the geese were close and cooperating; so I got the feather, eye, and beak detail that I was looking for.

The result is Figure 1.  these are Embden Geese, the common domesticated geese, Anser anser domesticus.  Their proud heritage of domestication is well documented and quite ancient as shown by Darwin.  While these particular specimens are doomed to little more than the laughter of children, their cousins elsewhere are pretty likely to find themselves on a dinner plate or stuffing a ski parka.

These two were quite friendly and just a bit erked that I was not providing them with any bread crumbs.  You can see from the picture that they were both talking loudly to me.

Canon T2i with   EF70-200mm f/4L USM Lens at 176 mm, ISO 1600, M Evaluative Metering Mode, 1/800th sec at F/8.0.