"I heard the unmistakable (music to my ears) hooting bugling of some Snow Geese."
Retired engineer Geoff McDonell was watching swallows and red-winged blackbirds on a sunny day at Richmond's Iona Park when he witnessed the incredible moment — a flock of snow geese had happened to fly close to the moon.
"I didn't have time to change any settings on my camera and just shot a few pictures as the geese went past the moon," he said.
Just as their arrival in Richmond every winter, the departure of snow geese signifies the changing of seasons in the city. The lesser snow geese had spent the past winter along Sturgeon Bank, where there was an abundance of food, but they will now head back to their breeding grounds in Alaska and Siberia.
"It was a feeling of peacefulness and gratitude that I was able to witness the natural changing of the seasons, and sitting on the bench in the sunshine as the geese went by was very relaxing," said McDonell.
