I arrived at the refuge even earlier on Saturday morning despite temperatures hovering somewhere in the low teens. I still did not really see any large flocks of geese take off up close. There were several flocks that flew away shortly after I got there but they had been roosting in other parts of the refuge.

I spent the first two hours or so shivering with a few other brave photographers on the flight deck, waiting for the sandhill cranes to wake up and take off for the daytime feeding areas. As they took off and flew by, some at close range, I put the camera to work, often shooting bursts of pictures.

After that I got back in the car and drove around a little to warm up, and ended up at the farm fields again. A large flock of snow geese was feeding there. There were a few half-hearted blast-offs of geese, but at no time did the entire flock take wing. I ended the day with a drive down the center road where I saw several roadrunners. They seemed fairly unconcerned about the humans, and let people and cars get quite close. Though the one I followed the most was not so cooperative as to get on the correct side of the road for optimal lighting.