Tag Archives: birds

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

Sandhill Cranes in Flight, Dawn

February 19, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two sandhill cranes fly in dawn light

I think that the sandhill cranes may have become my favorite birds in the California Central Valley wetlands. (OK, ask me again later — I may change my mind if I’ve just had a white pelican flyover or discovered a surprise group of tundra swans or photographed a bald eagle, or… ;-) On my first visit to the wetlands, the result of a set of coincidences that I’ve described before, I was completely ignorant about what I was seeing. There were lots of birds, but heck if I knew what they were. Then I became entranced by the Ross’s and snow geese, with the white bodies and black-tipped wings in huge flocks. I photographed this pair in lucky conditions — on a morning that was foggy nearby it cleared enough right here to let the sunrise light strike these birds as they flew above my position.

I saw the cranes, but they seemed on those first visits to be less interesting birds. Their color is less striking. (Though the brilliant red of their heads is attention-getting.) While they flock together, their numbers are typically smaller than those of the geese. But the pump had already been primed for potential interest in the cranes, all the way back in college when I read (but didn’t really fully understand) Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac. The main thing I recalled about that book, for some reason, was the sandhill cranes. (And if this isn’t an example of how a college experience that seemed to mean little at the time planted a seed that sprouted later, I don’t know what is.) In recent years, the more time I spent in the wetlands the more the cranes became central to the experience. In fact, their cries are my primary auditory association with these places, both when heard from birds flying invisibly in the early morning tule fog and the mass returns of these noble birds after sunset.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Distant Sierra, Wetlands Dawn

February 13, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Seen from foggy Central Valley wetlands, dawn comes to the sky above the Sierra Nevada

Driving toward this spot in the pre-dawn hours I encountered the usual winter tule fog as soon as I left the main highway for the narrow back roads that criss-cross the agricultural lands. I figured that it would be a foggy morning out in the wetland with the birds once I got to my destination, but instead the fog thinned as I arrived and, to my surprise, I could see the pre-dawn sky. I stopped, quickly set up my camera for bird photography… and immediately began photographing landscapes!

A bit of thin fogged hugged the ground a ways off in the distance. (And later it would glide back in and cover this area to the point that visibility was near zero.) Above the fog, the ponds, and the scattered trees the silhouette of the Sierra crest stretched from north to south. When I looked closely, I could pick out familiar peaks along the distant skyline. A few birds — geese and cranes — began to fly over, and I made this photograph as the sky lit up just before sunrise.

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

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

Into Dawn Sky

February 2, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of Ross’s geese takes off into foggy Central Valley dawn sky

I was back in my favorite haunts in California’s Great Central Valley near the end of January, looking for migratory and other birds to photograph, along with the expansive landscapes of this region. After five years of awful drought, the Valley is now full of water again. Ponds are full and many fields have become ponds, and creeks and rivers are flowing once again. It is a beautiful thing to see! The birds are there in abundance — yet, somewhat ironically, the wet conditions have allowed them to find what they need across a larger, more friendly landscape, and sometimes they seem to not be where I expect to see them.

However, on this day there were plenty of birds — more than I’ve seen previously this year. The big flocks of (mostly) Ross’s geese are back and the sandhill cranes are active, too. My drive there was foggy, but it cleared up enough at dawn to give me some colorful sky. Bird action such as that in this photograph is pretty much a constant out here — but often not where I am with my camera! Photographing a lift off from the pond this closely, in such perfect dawn light, with subtle color in the sky depends on a lot of factors all coming together, and most of them are out of my control. The best I can do is to try to be in the right place when and where it might happen and to be ready to react quickly.

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Two Sandhill Cranes in Dawn Flight

January 13, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A pair of lesser sandhill cranes flies toward the rising sun

The first birds that attracted my attention when I began to seriously photograph them in California’s Central Valley were not sandhill cranes, but rather geese. A series of coincidences led me to (finally!) “discover” the great winter bird migration, something I should have known about much earlier, having lived in this state for nearly my entire life. I recall one winter drive up the Valley perhaps 15 years ago when I first saw and was amazed by flocks of geese in dusk light above the Sacramento Valley.

Once I started photographing these birds I soon discovered that there’s a lot more going on than those astonishing huge flocks of geese — many other birds, all of them with different behavior patterns and attractions. It did not take long to discover sandhill cranes, birds that I had read about but not understood all the way back in college. While they can be ungainly on the ground, their pattern of flight is often magnificent and their cries now characterize the audio winter landscape of the Valley for me. This pair had just arisen from its overnight home along a wetland pond and was flying past and toward the dawn sun.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: birds

Sandhill Cranes in Flight, Dawn

Distant Sierra, Wetlands Dawn

Into Dawn Sky

Two Sandhill Cranes in Dawn Flight

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