Category Archives: Photographs: Birds

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Sandhill Cranes, Tule Fog

Image Leave a comment
Sandhill Cranes, Tule Fog
“Sandhill Cranes, Tule Fog” — A flock of lesser sandhill 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.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Crane Quartet, Fog

Image Leave a comment
Crane Quartet, Fog
“Crane Quartet, Fog” — Four sandhill cranes walk through 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.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

The Cranes Dance

Image Leave a comment
The Cranes Dance
A group of “dancing” sandhill cranes in early morning light.

The Cranes Dance. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of “dancing” sandhill cranes in early morning light.

This photograph is a companion to another that I shared a couple of weeks ago of this same group. It was early on a morning of thin fog, and the first direct sunlight had not yet arrived. As I worked my way slowly along a levee the view of this group of cranes appeared as I passed by some tall reeds. I stopped to watch and photograph. Mostly the birds were quiet, but before long they became more active, eventually taking off and flying away.

For a few minutes before their departure they engaged enthusiastically in the ritual “crane dance.” A group of cranes will assemble and the rise briefly into the air with a flapping of wings and a little hop, and just as quickly land again. Several birds in the group were alternately bending their heads down low, as the crane at the right, and jumping up wards. A few moments later the group took to the air and departed.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes in Motion

Image Leave a comment
A flock of sandhill cranes taking flight above wetlands on a Central Valley autumn morning.

Cranes in Motion. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes taking flight above wetlands on a Central Valley autumn morning.

This photograph follows one that I shared a few days ago. In that photo a group of sandhill cranes was standing in and along the edge of a pond, and I mentioned that their upright positions suggested that they were preparing to take to the air and depart. I wrote that without looking at the files that followed. Now I have looked at those other files, and I realize that I was correct — the small flock rose into the air almost immediately after that photograph and then traversed across the scene from left to right. I made this photograph as they departed.

You may notice that there is a lot of motion blur in this photograph. We often try to capture sharp photographs of birds, including those in flight, by hoping for sufficient light and then learning to track them as they fly. That’s not always an easy thing to do, and there’s nothing wrong with a sharp photograph of birds! But sometimes I feel that including some blur may better express the motion of this subject and the speed and suddenness of the birds’ flight.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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