Category Archives: Photographs: Wildlife

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

Sunrise, Fog, Marsh

November 28, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

Autumn sun rises through fog about California Central Valley marshland

I wanted to photograph migratory birds at sunrise in the San Joaquin Valley, so I was on the road from the San Francisco Bay Area shortly after 4:00 AM. As I drove it seemed like it might be a perfectly clear day, but on the last few miles of my drive I hit fog – thick enough fog to slow my progress considerably. I regard this as good news when I’m photographing birds out here, as drifting fog and mist makes for interesting conditions for photography, far more than clear skies.

I arrived at my destination, and the fog was so thick that I couldn’t see the morning light beyond the general increase in ambient light levels. However, as I stopped to see what birds might be about I noticed that the sun was barely visible through the low fog and some more distant clouds. At first it was so faint that it was possible to miss it, and as the fog drifted it occasionally completely muted the light of the sun. But after a few more minutes, as the sun rose higher the fog drifted and dissipated just a bit, and the globe of the rising sun become visible through the thick atmosphere, partially blocked by a layer of mid-level clouds.

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: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Migratory Birds – November 24, 2013

November 27, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

In late November I had the opportunity to make another trip to California’s Great Central Valley in search of migratory birds. This valley is an important stopping place for many of these birds in the late fall through early spring season, and a great variety of them may be found at the many wildlife refuges up and down the state.

This time I had a single morning to photograph. I arrived just before sunrise to find that ground fog was muting the light and the colors. As I continued shooting through the morning the fog gradually cleared, leaving blue sky and a soft light above the marshland. I saw (and heard!) many birds, including the white-faced ibises, black-necked stilts, redwing blackbirds, and Ross’s an snow geese included in this small collection.

White-faced ibises feeding in a California Central Valley marsh

“Black-necked Stilt Taking Flight” — A black-necked Stilt takes off from a California Central Valley pond

A black-necked Stilt takes off from a California Central Valley pond

Female red-winged blackbird perched above a California Central Valley pond

Ross's Geese in Flight — Snow Geese in Flight

A flock of snow geese in flight about a San Joaquin Valley wildlife refuge

Four Ross's Geese in Flight — Four Snow Geese in Flight

Four snow geese bank steeply through a turn above a California Central Valley marsh

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.

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

Grazing Deer, Evening

September 6, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

A huge herd of deer grazes in evening light at Tuolumne Meadows beneath Lembert Dome and Mount Dana

This evening started out looking like it might turn out to be a photographic bust. I had been over near Mono Lake earlier in the evening where smoky haze from a forest fire to the south along the eastern slopes of the Sierra was making photography a bit challenging. I did manage to get a few interesting images of the lake, but as the sun started to drop behind the Sierra crest to the east, things began to look very murky. I decided that I might just have enough time to get up and over the crest to where it was possible that the air might be a bit clearer, since forest fire smoke can be somewhat localized and varies a lot depending upon the wind. Crossing Tioga Pass, high clouds and more smoke continued to make the possibilities seem less than promising. This was one of those times when there was a temptation to just head back to camp and kick back for the evening. But I virtually never give in to that, so I continued on down Tioga Pass Road toward Tuolumne, hoping that something might change with this light. In fact, aside from the haze, this evening was a candidate for one of my favorite of all Sierra light shows that can happen when the cloud deck ends somewhere to the west, and the descending sun briefly shines under the clouds for a few moments right before sunset.

I got my first hint without warning. I had pulled over at a spot where I could see higher peaks to the southeast, thinking that I had seen a subtle glow on the shoulder of one far off ridge – but by the time I got the camera and tripod set up it was gone. Somewhat frustrated, I took down the equipment, got back in the car, started driving… and literally 30 seconds later the light suddenly came under the clouds and bathed the entire scene in warm colors. I did (another) quick u-turn and went back to the spot I had just left and made a few exposures. However, in this light I started thinking that interesting things might happen in Tuolumne Meadows, so I headed on down that direction to find interesting but unusual light. The warm color was certainly there, but the haze was muting the intensity of the light and softening distant features. With the idea of photographing across the meadow from the west end, I drove on… and soon saw that largest herd of deer that I can recall ever seeing here. I’ve often seen groups of perhaps a half-dozen or a few more, but here there were dozens. (In fact, I can count at least three dozen in this photograph, and it doesn’t include all of the critters that were in this herd.) So, as the nearly-gaudy glow of the last cloud-filtered light came to the meadow, I photographed this herd with a long lens, positioning myself so that I could place barely lit Lembert Dome and the summit of Mount Dana behind the animals.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Wildlife

Migratory Birds – November 24, 2013

First Bird Photographs of Fall

Grazing Deer, Evening

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