Category Archives: Photographs: Wildlife

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Marsh, Geese, Autum Tree

December 11, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Geese take to the air beyond an autumn tree in San Joaquin Valley marshlands on a foggy morning

These Central Valley wetlands are not just where the birds are. The total experience they provide includes the migratory and other birds, but it also includes light, atmosphere, sound, and much more. And virtually none of the elements is static — each undergoes transitions on a daily or seasonable schedule. I thought about all of this once again as I started visiting this autumn, beginning a bit before the “winter” birds arrived and while the lingering effects of summer were still felt back in October. My latest visit was a month and a half later, in early December, a time when winter and fall elements seem to overlap for a while.

I usually arrive before dawn, in near darkness and often in foggy conditions. The first impression of these landscapes, aside from those associated with the fog, are usually aural. I finally finish my two-hour drive, turn off the car, get out, and hear the wild, exuberant sound of thousands of birds — geese and (especially!) cranes and more. At this point the transition from night to day is already underway, and I quickly begin to work the light of this time of fast-changing light and conditions. On this morning it had been clear, but low fog began to form just at dawn. Perhaps an hour later one of my favorite morning conditions began — that period when the low sun just begins to overpower the low fog, shedding soft but strong light on close subjects but still allowing things in the distance to retain a muted and soft appearance. Beyond this autumn tree in that first light, geese that had settled onto this pond overnight began to rise up and fly away.

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

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

Two Cranes, Morning, Marsh

December 10, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two sandhill cranes stand in a marsh in early morning sunlight

This past Saturday was a full-on bird day for me. It started before dawn in the San Joaquin Valley, where I visited some wetlands areas to photograph various birds: cranes, geese, ibises, tri-color blackbirds, a solitary heron and a few egrets. Later that afternoon I wrapped up my bird photography and headed up to Oakhurst in the Sierra foothills to attend the opening reception for AVIAN: Birds in A Changing World at Gallery Five. The juried exhibit includes over 60 pieces by more than 40 artists, including a couple of my bird photographs. Afterwards I drove back to the Bay Area. Yes, it was a long day!

The conditions and the birds can vary a lot at this time of year in the San Joaquin Valley. Often it is foggy, but the skies were nearly clear when I arrived this time, with just a bit of scattered ground for a some haze. Two bird events were striking right after I arrived. First, a huge cloud of very small birds — perhaps tri-color blackbirds — rose before dawn and moved across the horizon. Second, a larger-than-usual number of sandhill cranes lifted off at dawn, and they followed unusual paths that brought them close to me. As the fly-out was getting underway I photographed these two cranes in the pond as the first light began to filter through the haze. They stood quietly for a few minutes, then suddenly took to the air and were gone.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Tule Fog, Autumn Trees

December 6, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Migratory snow geese and Ross’s geese in a pond on a foggy San Joaquin Valley morning

Since it was December 1, it seemed like time to start my annual series of visits to California’s Great Central Valley to photograph migratory birds and the landscape of the place. (Actually, I had made one preliminary and very quick visit about a month earlier, but too early for the birds shown in this photograph.) There is a ritual about these visits which, for me, are typically one-day affairs that start very early and end rather late, with a fair amount of driving involved. Up well before dawn, I drive a couple of hours in darkness and often fog, arriving perhaps a half hour before dawn to the stirring sound of many thousands of birds, already awake at morning twilight. I photograph intensively for at least a few hours before taking, at last on most days, a midday break. By mid-afternoon I’m back at work again, photographing through the peak of the visual crescendo just before sunset and then continuing for perhaps another half hour or so until the light is gone. I pack, get into my vehicle, and retrace my two-hour drive back home. (At least the shorter daylight hours of this season allow me to get up a little bit “later” — if you consider 3:45 or 4:00 AM later — and return home in time for a late dinner.)

On this first day of December it was incredibly foggy when I arrived — so much so that it was really hard to make photographs. I usually enjoy photographing in the fog, but this was so thick that almost no sunrise light managed to color the gloom. But before long the light began to come through the fog and eventually I found a moderately large group of white geese settled in on a pond. Among them I saw Ross’s and snow geese, and beyond them there were trees with fall foliage.

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

White-Faced Ibis

December 2, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

White-faced ibis wading in shallow water

Late each fall I begin heading out into California’s Great Central Valley to photograph migratory birds and the winter (plus a bit of autumn) landscape of this place. That landscape is largely agricultural, but Americans had enough foresight in the past — and one hopes we’ll return to those roots again soon — to put aside many areas in this midst of these areas for the use of birds, largely migratory birds who spend their summers thousand of miles to the north and then magically appear in my neighborhood during the colder months. Here, under the Central Valley’s open sky (often obscured by tule fog at this time of year!) I find cranes, herons, ibises, geese, egrets, hawks, eagles, and more.

Yesterday I made my first real bird photography foray of the new season. As usual, I was up and on the road many hours before dawn, arriving at my destination a half hour before sunrise to find the place socked in by tule fog so thick that bird photography wasn’t really possible at first. I took my time, slowing down to synchronize with the less-hectic flow of time here, and a bit later in the day came upon a group of ibises feeding near the edge of a pond. The coloration of ibises used to confuse me. Guides show everything from nearly black to quite colorful, but the first time I saw these birds they looked dark and, to be honest, somewhat drab. However, as this photograph shows, in the right light their feathers can produce a wild array of color including red, blue, green, yellow and more.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Wildlife

Marsh, Geese, Autum Tree

Two Cranes, Morning, Marsh

Geese, Tule Fog, Autumn Trees

White-Faced Ibis

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