Tag Archives: birds

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

Ross’s Geese, Foggy Pasture

February 10, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ross’s geese take off from a foggy San Joaquin Valley pasture

I’ve been out to the San Joaquin Valley quite a few times over the past few months, beginning in the last months of 2014, when there were not yet too many birds there, and as recently as a couple of weeks ago, when large numbers of geese and cranes had returned. (This was a bit of a relief, since many wondered where the birds had gone, especially after this string of drought years in California.)

Our visit to the valley on New Year’s Day was especially nice. Not only did a small group of us literally greet the dawn of the new year in the company of thousands of birds, but we were pleased to see the numbers of the birds had begun to increase again. Among them were the Ross’s geese, who appeared in rather large numbers. While the morning fog was still in the air, though thinning enough to let faint sun through, large groups of them had settled in on the pasture land. The birds were constantly coming and going, as new groups arrived and others left, and as they moved one spot to others nearby, often for reasons that I could not discern. In this photograph the large group still on the ground was in the process of leaving, with a new group taking to the sky every few moments.

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

Geese, Twilight

February 4, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Abstract photograph of low-flying flock of geese in twilight

It has been a while since I share a fuzzy goosescape, so I’ll try to make up for it with this one. Late in the evening of a long day photographing migratory birds and the San Joaquin Valley landscape, after the sun had set, I made this last photograph of the day in very low light. As we photograph on into the evening — typically with the camera off the tripod when photographing birds — we try to keep up with the fading light by opening up the aperture, raising the ISO, and gradually lengthening the shutter speed.

Eventually there comes a point where the light is so low that this won’t allow sharp photographs of moving birds any more. I actually look forward to this end-of-the-evening time and I happily switch over to intentional motion blur photographs. I lower the ISO, close down the aperture, lengthen the shutter speed and try for soft, blurring photographs. A lot of this work is rather experimental, since you can’t completely know what you’ll get ahead of time. You do have some control — shutter speed controls just how much blur there will be; by panning the camera you can get moving subjects to be defined enough to recognize; by moving the camera you can control the angles and curves of lines of blurred light. And when it all works out just right the result can be quite beautiful and, in some ways, more suggestive of the feeling of this place at twilight.

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

The Landing

January 29, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A large flock of Ross’s geese lands following a mass take-off.

The day followed a familiar pattern, starting with a long, pre-dawn drive to a favorite location in the San Joaquin Valley, where we arrived in thick fog to meet friends. We began photographing before sunrise — though you would hardly know there was a sunrise in the thick fog — and continued to work the foggy landscape for several hours. A first pass through the area gave us a better idea of what we might see later. By late morning the light was becoming more flat, and we decided to take a side trip to a different spot, returning to where we had begun after lunch.

The locations and activities of the birds continued to evolve as the day wore on. By afternoon we had figured out where the many cranes and even more geese were congregating, and it was looking like a big group might turn up in a pasture where we often are able to photograph them. One more pass through the area brought a few of us to this pasture and, sure enough, a couple of very large flocks were beginning to assemble here. A couple of us settled in along the edge of this meadow, trying to find positions that would include an interesting backdrop of trees and the setting sun. As the geese moved, we moved, too, mostly backing up to the east as they moved the same direction. Periodically something would set them off and huge groups of thousands of them would take to the air at once, in a maelstrom of wings and calls. After circling for a few minutes, in groups that became more widely distributed, things would calm down and they would return to the pasture, picking some spot where hundreds would begin to land at once.

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

White-Fronted Geese

January 25, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of white-fronted geese in flight about the San Joaquin Valley

I have probably mentioned previously that I am not by nature a “birder” type. In fact, my infatuation with photographing birds is a relatively new thing — I’ve photographed landscapes for years, but only became so interested in birds a few years ago. Because of this I’m having the wonderful experience of learning about a completely new world even though I’ve been photographing for decades! When I first went to California’s Central Valley to find and photograph birds, I didn’t quite know what I would see, but my attention was understandably attracted to the big groups of sandhill cranes and white (most Ross’s) geese.

Eventually, as I returned to these places and got to know them better, I have begun to pay more attention to critters that I either didn’t notice before or that I dismissed as not being special. The white-fronted geese (which, oddly, are mostly dark in color) fit into this group. When I was entirely focused on the white Ross’s geese, I regarded these darker birds as a sort of unwelcome intrusion — nothing special about them! Then I began to notice them more, settled in on the ground in fields, or providing a dark contrast to the white masses of Ross’s geese — and eventually I stopped ignoring them and began to include them in my photography.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: birds

Ross’s Geese, Foggy Pasture

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Geese, Twilight

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The Landing

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White-Fronted Geese

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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.