Category Archives: Photographs: Northern California

Photographs from Northern California

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

First Bird Photographs of Fall

November 10, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

During the past few years I have become a big fan of photographing migratory birds in California’s Central Valley, and now that summer is over I’m anxious to get back out there and get to work on this year’s bird photographs. Actually, we made our first bird photography trip out there about a week ago, on the first weekend in November. Our main goal was to find sandhill cranes, since we knew they were here already, but we were also interested in seeing what else might have showed up.

In keeping with my new policy of posting multiple photographs in a single message when I have too many photographs waiting in the queue, this post includes five bird photographs. Enjoy!

Three sandhill cranes in a dormant field

Late in the morning, long after the morning fly out, we were poking around on some rural backroads when we found a lot of sandhill cranes in dormant fields in thinning morning fog. This group thoughtfully posed for me with a distant pair of trees on the horizon.

Three sandhill cranes stand in a dormant Central Valley, California field

I photographed this group in much the same location as those in the previous photograph. While the cranes seem to collect in large groups near water in the evening and early morning, during the day they are often found more spread out in agricultural areas like this one.

Sandhill cranes land on a Central Valley pond during the evening fly-in

In the evening the cranes do a “fly-in” – where large numbers of them land together in areas around water. When we arrived at this small observation area an hour or so before sunset, there were many birds but no cranes. However, I’ve learned that the sandhill cranes often arrive late, frequently after sunset and sometime when it is becoming rather dark. (One of our most memorable migratory bird encounters occurred at another refuge further south in the valley. We had a great day of photographing birds, beginning very early in the morning and continuing through sunset. As the sun set the bird action began to diminish and it became quite dark. It had been a long, successful day, and we were happy to be finished with this shoot. We were just putting gear away when we began to hear a huge chorus of the easily recognized sound of sandhill cranes coming from out of sight to the southeast. A moment later the sky was filled with the birds – I’ve never seen so many cranes together since then.)

Here the birds began to arrive just a bit earlier. The first groups landed a good distance off, but soon a single large crane settled in on this dry area in front of us and began to produce very large calls, as if to say, “come on down and stop here!” Before long other birds did just that. Here the slow shutter speed allows the winds of the landing birds to blur a bit.

A small group of cackling geese in flight against blue sky over California Central Valley agricultural lands

I have a confession to make, and it is a little embarrassing for a person who is as enthusiastic about photographing birds as I am. Basically, I’m not very good at identifying birds, or at least not good at naming them! (This is an “issue” I’ve always had, and not just with birds. I’m so familiar with certain wild plants that I can tell you exactly what they look like in the wet and dry seasons, when the flowers will appear, and when to find them… but I often cannot name them.) I’m always happy when I can photograph with someone who is better than I at this.

I’m pretty certain these are geese! (Good so far?) I used to think that geese that looked like this were Canadian geese, but when I tried to find photos of these birds online to determine what they were, I kept coming up with “cackling geese.” To make things more confusing – at least for me – I understand that the differences between some Canadian geese and some cackling geese can confuse even the experts. Judging by the size and shape of the bill, the size of the birds, and the pattern and color of feathers, I’m going with this identification until someone shows me differently!

Sandhill cranes settle in to a Central Valley pond during the evening fly-in

This is the same group seen in a photograph earlier in this post, with this photograph being made a bit earlier – clearly the case as there are fewer birds on the ground in this shot, and the color of the sky is less intense. If you look closely about a third of the way in from the left edge of the frame, you may be able to see the larger bird that landed first and was then followed by other later arrivals.

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.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Black Oak, Meadow, Autumn

November 8, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A backlit black oak tree with autumn foliage stands in a meadow below Sentinel Rocks, Yosemite Valley

This black oak, like so many in Yosemite Valley, stands in a large grassy meadow. Although the autumn foliage of these trees may seem less spectacularly colorful than that of the big leaf maples and the cottonwoods, the black oak has a more subtle beauty in the fall. But when lit from behind, early or late in the day when the sun is low, the color of black oak leaves can be surprisingly intense. Off all the fall colors in the Valley, in some ways the combination of that of these oaks and the grasses of the meadows where they are found seems to most strongly speak of fall to me.

This single tree is in a meadow filled with black oaks. I would not be surprised to find that there are 100 of them here. On this afternoon I had gone to the meadow to photograph something different, a group of small cottonwood trees growing near the bank of the Merced River. Finishing that project, I was about to start back toward my car when I noticed that a short-lived beam of direct sun was coming down from an opening in the upper cliff walls and spotlighting this tree. Naturally, I changed my plans, took a little detour, and spent a few minutes with this tree.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Afternoon, Merced River Cottonwood Trees

November 7, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hazy autumn afternoon light on golden cottonwood trees growing along the banks of the Merced River, Yosemite Valley

As I try to do every fall, I visited Yosemite Valley for a few days right at the end of October so that I could photograph fall color and other seasonal subjects. I typically target my visits for near the end of the last week of the month, since at about this time the cottonwood, big leaf maple, black oak, and dogwood trees can produce beautiful colors and the meadows turn wonderful shades of tan and brown and gold. There are other benefits to visiting at this time of year, too – far fewer people, cooler temperatures, availability of campsites, and I often run into friends and other interesting people in the Valley.

I’m a big fan of backlit trees, and I have shot in this area of meadows and cottonwood trees and river bank many times before. In the afternoon the light begins to come into the valley from the low sun in the west and while trees can be backlit, some of the granite cliffs are already in shadow. If there is a bit of atmospheric haze, I like it even more! On this afternoon I decided to poke around along the banks of the Merced in this area where it flows through a series of bends among meadows and forest – and there were backlit cottonwood trees galore to work with!

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Sagebrush and Aspens

November 6, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sparse, colorful aspen trees in the high sagebrush country east of the Sierra Nevada.

Back in October I made my annual trek to the east side of the Sierra Nevada to photograph autumn subjects, including but not limited to aspen trees in their fall colors. As often happens at this time of the year, we encountered a wide range of conditions ranging from beautiful sunny days to one day on which it snowed the entire time as we drove over the crest and down highway 395. Overall, this turned out to be a fine year for aspen color, though it was not exactly a typical year. The color came a bit early and seemed to change quickly in a number of areas. Even though many of us were concerned that the past two years of California drought – perhaps combined with the effects of global climate changes – might have reduced the colors, in the end the effect was simply to change the timing a bit. (And long time aspen photographers know that, in a sense, there really is no such thing as a “typical season” for aspen color.)

The final day of our five-day visit was a diverse one, and it took us to a range of quite different locations. It started in Mammoth Lakes, where we were surprised to find that it was snowing lightly when we left our motel in the pre-dawn darkness and headed out into Long Valley. After stopping there to photograph the morning snow flurries along the eastern Sierra, we continued to the east and drove all the way to Benton before turning around and heading back toward Mono Lake, investigating the interesting fall color in this less-visited area. As we reached highway 395 again we found that the snow was continuing to fall along the eastern escarpment here, too. We stopped in Lee Vining for a (very) late breakfast and decided to continue on to the north. After a stop to photograph the vast stands of aspens on the summit north of Lee Vining, it looked like the weather might be photographically interesting out toward Bodie, so we headed that direction. I photographed this little high desert valley with its small stands of autumn aspens momentarily illuminated as cloud shadows raced across the landscape. Mono Lake and the surrounding mountains are visible in the distance.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Northern California

First Bird Photographs of Fall

Black Oak, Meadow, Autumn

Autumn Afternoon, Merced River Cottonwood Trees

Sagebrush and Aspens

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.