Tag Archives: birds

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

Tundra Swans, Winter Sky

February 21, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tundra swans against a cloud-covered winter sky

I photographed my first tundra swans a few years back, when I was just getting interesting in photographing the migratory birds of the Pacific Flyway. Actually, it was quite literally the first time I did this sort of photography. On the basis of a chance encounter with a friend who just happened to mention a place where sandhill cranes could be found, I decided this sounded as interesting as anything else on my agenda, and off I went, to a place where I was stunned to find a sky filled with birds, almost none of which I recognized, much less could name. Later when I shared one of the photographs of a line of birds flying above me, someone said, “hey, those are tundra swans.” If you say so! Somehow, possibly because of their relative scarcity where I photograph, these birds intrigued me.

Earlier this month I made another bird photography trip, also more or less on a the basis of a whim, though perhaps a little bit more informed this time and with some significant experience under my belt. Yet, arriving in this place, I really did not know what I would find — but I was very happy to discover that it was a major stopping place for these beautiful birds. Ironically I “saw” some early in the morning but didn’t recognize them. Later, during the “boring light” hours of the day I found a big group in a pond, and later that day I photographed them again. There are probably many ways to photograph them, but one seems to be to go where the birds will fly over — and that’s pretty much what I did here. I simply figured out that they were taking a certain route across a valley, and then I put myself under that spot and waited.

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

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Flock of Tundra Swans

February 14, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of tundra swans aloft in evening light about the Klamath Basin

More tundra swans — and I’m not finished yet! I don’t get to see these birds all that often at my usual Central California wildlife photography locations, so finding quite large numbers up here along the California-Oregon border has been pretty exciting. It turns out that while I was here a bit too early for the massive migration of some birds (I hear the geese will be back here in a couple of weeks) I seem to have arrived at just about the right moment for the tundra swans.

This day turned out to be the best for photographing these birds. Early in the morning I happened on a pair of ponds lining a short roadway, and both ponds held good size flocks. The morning light wasn’t quite right so I moved on and photographed other things, but in the evening I was back. During the final half hour or so before sunset, flocks of these birds began to stream back from the south, and I quickly headed back to this pond where I had seen them earlier, figuring that some of them might land here. I was not disappointed! And the light was spectacular, starting out as typical warm-colored late day light against blue toned sky and clouds, and then later lighting up with a brilliant colored sunset.

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

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

Tundra Swans

February 13, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A trio of tundra swans in flight in the Klamath Basin

I don’t usually do this, but I’m posting this photograph while I’m still in the field. It is a photograph I made earlier this evening, in the Klamath Basin in far Northern California — so far north in the state that I could look across the road and see Oregon. I’ve been photographing migratory birds in my “home range” of the California Central Valley for so long that I decided it was time to push out those boundaries a bit this season. I’ll share more about what this experience has taught me in a later post.

It is a challenge to photograph in a new place, especially when the subject is wildlife and double-especially when I arrived well after dark the previous night and had to head out again in pre-dawn darkness to find locations I’ve never been to before! Fortunately, I ended up in an area with quite a few birds — though not the dense flocks that I’m used to from some places I more frequently photograph. Here the main show involved a few golden eagles and a large number of tundra swans. I’ve only photographed tundra swans a few times in the past, since they are not all that plentiful in the places I usually visit. But here there were thousands of them, and I ended up photographing them in the morning and then again at the end of the day. From a distance grounded tundra swans look a lot like geese, though larger and with longer necks. Up close you notice that their bills are black, and they make rather different sounds that geese. Their flight patterns are not like geese either. The lumber into the air like jumbo jets loaded for intercontinental flights, gaining elevation very slowly and then flying in a smooth and level path.

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

Goose-Filled Sky, Dusk

February 8, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thousands of Ross’s geese fill the dusk sky above California’s San Joaquin Valley

The light and the photographic subjects pass through a series of stages at the end of the day in these wetlands areas. The nondescript late afternoon light takes on a warmer tone as the sun drops toward the horizon and shadows lengthen, and often clouds in the distant west may momentarily mute the light. There is still plenty of light for traditional bird photography, as the direct sunlight has not yet disappeared. Before long comes the last bit of direct sun, golden in color on the bodies of white geese, and then it is twilight.

At this transitional moment all sort of light magic can happen. As flocks of birds wheel around in the night sky they take on different colors — the gold of reflected sunset, the blue of the eastern sky that is transitioning towards night, and sometimes they simply are black against the sky. And the sky shifts colors, too. Sometimes the effect is wild and gaudy, but more often it is subtle, with tones of pink and blue and purple and more. By the time I made this photograph the light was becoming quite dim, and it was dark enough that I could no longer maintain a shutter speed that would stop the motion of the birds. So I no longer tried! I use a longer shutter speed and pan, watching for the flocks to compose themselves in interesting ways, always in constant motion, and against the colors of the evening sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: birds

Flock of Tundra Swans

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Tundra Swans

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Goose-Filled Sky, Dusk

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

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