Tag Archives: birds

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Five Cranes, Morning Sky

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Five Cranes, Morning Sky
Five sandhill cranes pass overhead against blue morning sky

Five Cranes, Morning Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Five sandhill cranes pass overhead against blue morning sky

Cranes just might be on my mind this week due to a little snippet on a television program I saw last week. In it a couple of people, a photographer and a wildlife proponent, we sitting along the edge of a watery area in, if memory serves, the state of Nebraska. All it took in this brief clip was the sound of these birds, the site of them in flight and on the ground, and all of the associations with being in their ancient presence came back. If you’ve experienced it, you know — the moist air, the cold, the short winter days, and then the sound and sight of these birds.

There are lots of ways to photograph these birds. I often place them in the landscape, but here I wanted to focus on the birds themselves, as a group of them flew overhead in late-day light. Compared to certain other birds you might see in the same places and at the same times, the cranes have a more “stately” pattern of flight. They takeoff at a relatively low angle, and they often fly horizontally for a good distance before they gain much elevation. In smaller groups they fly beak-to-tail in undulating lines. Their wing motion is slower than that of, say, geese. Oddly, however, for birds that often seem so low-key, there are exceptions. One is the familiar “dance” that they do during mating season, when individuals extend their winds and jump into the air. In addition, I’ve sometimes caught then doing very strange things in flight — sudden twists and turns, beak pointed up toward the sky, and more.

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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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Red-Wing Blackbirds, Twilight

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Red-Wing Blackbirds, Twilight
A huge flock of red-wing blackbirds wheels in the twilight sky

Red-Wing Blackbirds, Twilight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A huge flock of red-wing blackbirds wheels in the twilight sky

First, a confession. Although I’m almost positive that the little black spots in this photograph are individual red-wing blackbirds, I was not actually close enough to verify. I had seen quite a few of those specific birds here earlier and none (or very few) of the birds that I might mistake for them, such as tricolor blackbirds. The rediwings are ubiquitous here in California and, I suspect, many other places. Before this past year I had mostly noticed them as individuals or in very small groups, often perched on a fence or tree or similar. I also sometimes saw them in groups of perhaps a few hundred.

This was the first year that I saw these small birds collect into extremely large group of many thousands of individuals. (In at least one case, I would estimate that there might have been multiple tens of thousands. On that day I saw then in the far distance through light fog in the very early morning — too far away to photography.) These really big groups sometimes perform remarkable group aerial maneuvers, with the entire flock spontaneously changing directions, ascending, descending and forming unusual patterns in the sky. In this photograph we see a diagonal boundary between the main group and a smaller group against twilight sky.

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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Twilight Flight

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Twilight Flight
A rush of (mostly) geese at the end of the day

Twilight Flight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A rushing blur of birds at the end of the day

First, I do know how to make sharp photographs of birds, too… ;-)

There are many things I can’t really explain about winter bird populations. But as I have watched them (and listened to their remarkable sound) from Washington to California, I am starting to at recognize a few more patterns. At times some birds become increasingly active, and at the end of the day, as light fades, there may be opportunities to depict the motions of individual birds and flocks in a different way — rather than trying to stop motion I just go with longer shutter speeds, pan with groups as they fly by, and let the motion blur take over. Frankly, in many ways I think that this confusing blur may better evoke the wild actions of these evening flocks.

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

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Two White-Faced Ibises

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Two White-Faced Ibises
Two white-faced ibises interacting in a San Joaquin Valley wetland pond

Two White-Faced Ibises. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two white-faced ibises interacting in a San Joaquin Valley wetland pond

The white-faced ibises have intrigued me since before I knew what they were — in fact, I suppose I could say that I photographed them before I realized that they existed. Some years back, on my very first more or less accidental exposure to bird photography, I found myself “out there” on an early morning, with no more clue about what was going on than “someone told me I should go here and see the birds.”(That someone was a colleague where I taught.) I barely knew a goose from a swan, at least when they were flying quickly overhead, but I was amazed by the number and variety of birds that morning. I photographed like a madman, not really knowing at all what I was photographing. Later on, back home and looking at files, I recall finding a series of photographs of a line of birds overhead that had oddly long and curving beaks. I wondered what they were. It turns out they were ibises.
 
Ibises are not always the most common specimens. In addition to their unusual beaks, they have another particular visual characteristic. In many situations you would regard them as dark and fairly drab-looking birds. Photographing them in flight is often difficult, partly because they frequently just end up looking black against any lighter background. But catch them in the right light and the texture, patterns, and colors of their feathers begin to appear. On this morning I happened upon a group of ibises, perhaps a couple dozen, in shallow water. I stopped and watched quietly and was able to photograph a variety of behaviors, including this interaction between two of the birds.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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