Tag Archives: bird

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

Migratory Birds, Dusk

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Migratory Birds, Dusk - Flocks of migratory birds fly over the Merced National Wildlife Refuge at dusk, San Joaquin Valley, California
Flocks of migratory birds fly over the Merced National Wildlife Refuge at dusk, San Joaquin Valley, California

Migratory Birds, Dusk. Merced National Wildlife Refuge, California. January 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Flocks of migratory birds fly over the Merced National Wildlife Refuge at dusk, San Joaquin Valley, California.

I think that I’m as interested in the landscape of the Central Valley of California as I am in the migratory birds that I went there to photograph during the last weekend of January. I’m still surprised to find that this landscape is more varied than I realized for many years, even though I’ve lived in California almost all of my life and I frequently drive through the Valley on my way to the Sierra and other places. I used to think of it as “that hot place between here and there,” at least in the summer. Later I found out about the very different winter climate there, where it is often foggy for days or weeks on end. The, after I learned about the amazing annual arrival of migratory birds, I realized just how much of the Valley is waterlogged at least part of the year.

The area of the Merced National Wildlife Refuge is one such area. Located more or less between the towns of Merced and Los Banos, it holds many seasonal ponds, and these ponds are the winter homes of thousands and thousands of birds. On our visit during the final weekend of January 2012, the birds were there, all right. However, they were mostly too far away to photograph them easily except when they occasionally passed over head. But the landscape was as accessible as ever. Here I wanted to accentuate the vast sky above the flat surface of the valley, so I tilted the camera up a bit so that the flooded fields and sparse trees sat at the bottom of the frame, and the gradient of color and light fills most of the frame, interrupted by passing flocks of migratory birds.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Sandhill Cranes, Dusk

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Sandhill Cranes, Dusk - A flock of sandhill cranes against the dusk sky above the Merced National Wildlife Reserve, California.
A flock of sandhill cranes against the dusk sky above the Merced National Wildlife Reserve, California.

Sandhill Cranes, Dusk. Merced National Wildlife Refuge, California. January 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes against the dusk sky above the Merced National Wildlife Reserve, California.

The sandhill cranes are amazing creatures. On the ground they seem rather ungainly, but in the air they seem, to me at least, to fly with remarkable grace and strength. Several things can make them tricky to photograph. On the ground, they are frequently in less than photogenic locations such as turned under fields, and they are skittish, moving away quickly if you come too close. In flight they can appear and disappear quickly, and if you aren’t looking the right direction you can miss them as they fly over. And they seem to come in waves – you can wait for a while without seeing any of them, let down your guard and become distracted, the suddenly groups of them seem to appear.

I had fewer opportunities to photograph them close up at Merced National Wildlife Refuge on this evening than I had earlier in the day back north at Woodbridge Road. But a few did come close and I managed to photograph this portion of a large group that flew over as the evening light was turning portions of the sky pink and purple.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Rocky Creek Bridge, Sunset

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Rocky Creek Bridge, Sunset - Sunset light illuminates the Rocky Creek Bridge, winter surf, a natural arch, and a rugged section of the Big Sur coastline.
Rocky Creek Bridge, Sunset - Sunset light illuminates the Rocky Creek Bridge, winter surf, a natural arch, and a rugged section of the Big Sur coastline.

Rocky Creek Bridge, Sunset. Big Sur Coast, California. December 18. 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light illuminates the Rocky Creek Bridge, winter surf, a natural arch, and a rugged section of the Big Sur coastline.

This is, for me, essentially the prototypical Big Sur coastline photograph. The Rocky Creek bridge spans, not surprisingly, the canyon holding Rocky Creek, located in a bay not far from the well-known Rocky Point south of Carmel, California along the coast highway. This little scene holds most of the elements that we identify with this area: the old coast highway bridge with its curving support structures, turbulent surf, headlands and bluffs, a small beach, steep cliffs dropping into the ocean, and sea stacks, rocky islands, and natural arches.

I have photographed almost this exact same scene many times, but with the variables of season, weather, light, and surf I keep coming back. I have several black and white photographs of the scene that are among my favorites, but I have been trying to get a color photograph for some time. It turns out to be a bit trickier than it might seem. I wanted sun, but not too much sun. In the wrong light, the colors in the scene can be difficult with a lot of neutral gray, brown and dark greens. In the morning the light comes from behind the bridge, in the midday hours the light (when it isn’t foggy!) can be overly harsh, and in the evening fog and offshore clouds can interrupt the light.

On this visit to the Monterey Peninsula area I had several opportunities to photograph this spot in mostly clear weather and near sunset when the light comes from the right side and takes on the warmer, saturated “golden hour” quality. I shot it on two evenings. On one the light went flat too quickly when the sun dropped behind clouds parked well off shore. The same thing almost happened on this evening and, in fact, shortly after I made this exposure the light went flat. But before that happened I got a few moments of this beautiful, warm, low angle light coming from the sun as it dropped toward the horizon and lit up the bridge and portions of the rocky terrain.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Red Wing Blackbird, Fence Post

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Red Wing Blackbird, Fence Post
Red Wing Blackbird, Fence Post

Red Wing Blackbird, Fence Post. Calero Hills, California. April 18, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A redwing blackbird pauses atop a fence post in front of central California oak/grassland, Calero County Park.

Photographed on the same morning as another recent shot of this same type of bird, the bright red upper wings of this redwind blackbird provide a striking contrast to its jet black body. This bird was on a fence surrounding an old manmade pond at the Calero County Park south of San Jose, California – a place that I can drive to in little more than 15 minutes, and where I have hiked extensively for a number of years. These birds often flock around this small lake on winter and early spring mornings. Here it was still overcast, though the low fog from earlier in the morning was now dispersing.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.