On our return trip from Death Valley near the end of February we took a short detour in California’s Central Valley to look for migratory geese. Their winter visit to the state is coming to an end, so I wanted to make sure to see them again this season. It was a quick stop, but we found our geese and I made this photograph of a small flock of Ross’s geese descending toward a wetland pond.
when I first started photographing birds a decade or two ago I had little idea what I was doing, but I did know that I wanted to photograph “snow geese.” (Ross’s geese aren’t snow geese, but they are quite similar.) The photograph illustrates how much photographs of flocks of birds rely on luck. Note the two geese at lower right, positioned so that one does not obscure the view of the other’s head. Look at the positions of the two more distant geese behind the bird at lower left. And then note the the other four birds are also all positioned so that their heads are visible. You would almost think that they posed for me…
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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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