Water and Geese Above and Below

I took this picture yesterday around 2 p.m.  With Daylight Savings over, the mid-afternoon shadow of the bridge lengthens downstream. 

Less than a mile eastward, the ground floor windows of the Ottauquechee Health Center look out at a stretch of the river so straight it could be a canal.  Scores of Canada Geese dominated the scene yesterday morning. One or two would start to fly, leaving wakes as their feet trailed in the water just before taking off, and scoring the water again as they quickly landed.  Others dove under like cormorants, coming up in unexpected places. Still others, facing upstream, seemed to simply float, but as they appeared stationary, so they must have been paddling just to stay where they were.  Geese in every mode of action and inaction.  Were they just having fun?

We think of these geese as migratory, and they mostly are, but some stay around all year in our north country.  These birds may be right at home, or just taking a break on a southern trip from the Arctic.

Back on the bridge later on, I peered over and saw the river bottom lit up by the sun, as the bridge's shadow began some yards downstream.  The shadow obscured the depths, while the slanting afternoon light cut right through, revealing the bed of stones and sand, as I described in my post two days ago.  Gripping my iPhone over the edge, I took the picture below: the depths revealed, distorted by the lens of the surface ripples.

The under bridge scaffolding for repairing cables threw the H-shaped shadow.