This photograph is a bit of an exercise in changing my perspective. If you were in Death Valley or other places where sand verbena grows and blooms, you might first notice a pinkish-purple color out on a gravel slope somewhere. Getting closer you would see large, sprawling individual plants with large pink-purple “flowers.” But a closer look reveals that these are actually globular clusters of many small flowers.
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I have been meaning to share this critter’s head shot for a while. It is a great egret, a bird whose presence in nature is announced by its large size, its long neck, and its striking white plumage. Quite a few of them were around when I visited one of my bird photography haunts in California’s Central Valley.
This one was less bothered by my presence than some. I wasn’t as close as it may appear — I was using a long telephoto lens. But still, egrets have boundaries, and if you cross them they will quickly fly away. But this one stuck around, and even paused in the soft, cloudy light.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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Great egrets are a common sight here in California, from the coastline to inland wetlands and creeks. Their distinctive white plumage makes them stand out in almost any landscape. It doesn’t hurt that they are quite large, too — the largest of several different egret species. I photographed this one at a wetland area in California’s Central Valley on a foggy day that softened the light.
In some ways it is easy to photograph them, but in others it can be tricky. It is a bit easier to fill the frame with an egret since the birds are large. They also tolerate human presence… up to a point. So, it isn’t too hard to photograph them on the ground. Catching them in flight is a different matter. Most often they will be flying away from me, and when they take off they often do so suddenly and without much warning.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.
Photographing this and some other birds was a serendipitous event at the end of October. I was on my way from the San Francisco Bay Area to Yosemite to photograph autumn color. Rather than show up during the midday flat light period in the Valley, I decided to detour to a wildlife refuge, just to take a look around. I wasn’t really expecting to see much this early in the season, but I was surprised to find plentiful sandhill cranes, egrets, and white-faced ibises.
At one point I came upon a big flock (or, technically perhaps, two flocks intermingled) of ibises and egrets. Although I had intended my visit to be brief, I ended up spending some serious time photographing this group. The birds were feeding among short wetlands plants near the edge of a large pond in the early morning light.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.