Photographing this and some other birds was a serendipitous event at the end of October. I was on my way from the San Francisco Bay Area to Yosemite to photograph autumn color. Rather than show up during the midday flat light period in the Valley, I decided to detour to a wildlife refuge, just to take a look around. I wasn’t really expecting to see much this early in the season, but I was surprised to find plentiful sandhill cranes, egrets, and white-faced ibises.
At one point I came upon a big flock (or, technically perhaps, two flocks intermingled) of ibises and egrets. Although I had intended my visit to be brief, I ended up spending some serious time photographing this group. The birds were feeding among short wetlands plants near the edge of a large pond in the early morning light.
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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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