Category Archives: Photographs: Birds

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Sunset Light

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White Pelicans, Sunset Light
A small flock of white pelicans clusters together, rellected in a wetland pond at sunset.

White Pelicans, Sunset Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of white pelicans clusters together, rellected in a wetland pond at sunset.

One of the things I like about white pelicans is that they were always here, in the places I frequently visit, and I somehow managed to remain completely unaware of them for decades. I have long known about and photographed brown pelicans along the California coast, but I had no idea that they had cousins in California, too. My ignorance of them was so great that the first time I saw white pelicans, far off in the distance in thick fog, I speculated that they might be some kind of strange goose or perhaps swans. That sounds ridiculous, as I soon understood when I saw them more clearly. And once I saw the first flock they magically appeared in other locations I had long visited.

I’ve seen them everywhere from coastal areas to inland waterways and ponds. This group hangs out at an inland location, and I’ve seen them or their relatives off in the distance many times, usually just hanging around on small islands like this one. When I’m lucky I manage to be under their flight path as they take to the air. But this group had taken up residence on this little bar, close enough for me to photograph them very late in the day, only minutes before sunset, while I was on my way to another spot.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Sandhill Cranes and Tree, Tule Fog

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Sandhill Cranes and Tree, Tule Fog
A flock of lesser sandhill cranes in a wetland pond in front of a solitary tree in winter tule fog.

Sandhill Cranes and Tree, Tule Fog. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of lesser sandhill cranes in a wetland pond in front of a solitary tree in winter tule fog.

Sometimes the way that photographs come into existence seems strange. We put a lot of effort into doing all the things that increase the chances of success — practice, learn technique, develop our ability to see, take care to have the appropriate equipment, go to the locations where photographs are possible, time things correctly, and more. All of these are efforts, I think, to diminish the role of chance. Or, perhaps giving ourselves a bit more credit, steps that increase the odds that we’ll be able to take advantage of good fortune when it comes to us.

The series of recent photographs of sandhill cranes in fog is an example of this dynamic. They certainly involved all of those controllable factors that I listed in the previous paragraph. But I can’t help but acknowledge what it means to create a series of photographs from, literally, not more than a few minutes (perhaps a half hour?) in one spot on one particular morning. Aside from the fact that I knew it was possible that I’d find a scene like this, it was not exactly predictable. The weather could easily have been different, the birds could have been elsewhere, I might have chosen a different day to be there. Yet, on this morning it came together and this series of photographs was the result.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Sandhill Cranes, Tule Fog

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Sandhill Cranes, Tule Fog
A flock of lesser sandhilll cranes in a wetland pond on a foggy winter morning.

Sandhill Cranes, Tule Fog. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of lesser sandhilll cranes in a wetland pond on a foggy winter morning.

Unlike most winter drivers in California, I was thrilled when I ran into serious fog about an hour before arriving at my intended photography location. I chose this day to visit the Great Central Valley specifically because I hoped to photograph in such fog. As I continued to drive, dropping down into the valley from surrounding hills, the fog only got thicker. By the time I arrived at my destination is was so thick that the roadway was. barely visible in the pre-dawn darkness. I turned off the main road and spent some time looking for birds, finally finding a flock of cranes standing in a shallow pond.

To read about nature photography and photographers, you might occasionally get the mistaken idea that it involves non-stop action and compelling scenes. You would be wrong. Those tend to the exceptions, and they are often separated by long periods of stillness and quiet. I don’t regard that as a problem and, in fact, this is part of the appeal of these places. The fog amplifies this effect, muting sounds and restricting visibility to a small radius. I stopped and slowly and patiently watched these birds, barely visible at times in the fog, making occasional photographs as they assembled themselves in interesting compositions.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Crane Quartet, Fog

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Crane Quartet, Fog
Four sandhill cranes walk thorugh shallow water in front of a larger flock on a very foggy morning.

Crane Quartet, Fog. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Four sandhill cranes walk thorugh shallow water in front of a larger flock on a very foggy morning.

As you can imagine, quiet and lonely places have their practical appeal these days. If I’m going out to photograph, especially if I’m driving somewhere, right now I tend to pick a time and place where there won’t be a lot of other people. Out in the middle of nowhere, at the end of a long pre-dawn drive in incredibly dense tule fog seems to do the trick quite nicely!

I’ve often wondered what it must be like to be a bird in a place such as this where the tule fog frequently forms in the winter. This fog is usually not very deep, and I’ve driven through tule fog so thick I could barely see the roadway, but if I looked up I could see stars and morning clouds overhead. I would think that these birds could easily lift off and emerge into sunshine on such a morning.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.