Tag Archives: cranes

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Four Cranes in Flight

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Four Cranes in Flight
Four lesser sandhill cranes in flight against blue sky.

Four Cranes in Flight. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Four lesser sandhill cranes in flight against blue sky.

So often photography is about composition, controlling the relationships among elements within the frame —left and right, front and back, up and down, relationships among colors and luminosity levels, lines, curves, and all the rest. This is certainly the case when photographing from the tripod, and it is usually true even when shooting with a handheld camera. Even in situations when things happen quickly, we try to maintain some awareness of how the different elements fit together.

Then some birds fly overhead against a pure blue sky… and one just makes exposures. In the midst of photographing birds in the larger landscape, I realized that I was in a spot that groups of sandhill cranes were traversing, often nearly directly overhead. To some extent you take what you get in these situations, and you don’t have any control over the relative positions of the birds. But you do have some control, at least if you have been photographing birds for a while. Rather than just blasting away in burst mode — which is sometimes the only realistic strategy — you can watch the birds, track their movements relative to one another, and increase the odds a bit by timing the exposures.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes, Dawn Light

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Cranes, Dawn Light
A flock of lesser sandhill cranes in dawn light, reflected in a wetland pool on a late-winter morning.

Cranes, Dawn Light. © Copyright 2022.G Dan Mitchell.

A flock of lesser sandhill cranes in dawn light, reflected in a wetland pool on a late-winter morning.

By the time most of you see this photograph, there is a very good chance that these birds will have departed for the season. Every autumn, all sorts of wonderful migratory birds arrive in California from points north. Among my favorites are the geese, especially Ross’s and snow geese, and the sandhill cranes. They come to many places around the state, in particular in locations in California’s Great Central Valley. But, like typical tourists, they don’t stay all year, and before spring arrives they depart for locations as distant as the arctic shoreline.

I photographed these cranes on a late-February morning just as the first sunlight arrived. The sky was still red with dawn light, and for a few moments that color infused the entire landscape. A bit of valley fog softened the light just a bit. The birds stood in the shallow wetland pond for a bit and soon began flying out in small groups.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes in Fog

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Cranes in Fog
A group of lesser sandhill cranes in thick morning fog, California Central Valley.

Cranes in Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of lesser sandhill cranes in thick morning fog, California Central Valley.

Awake almost three hours before sunrise, I headed to the kitchen to make coffee — enough to wake me up and enough to fill a thermos for later. I had mostly packed the car the previous night, so I just had to grab a small bag and head out the door to begin a two-hour pre-dawn drive to a place where I expected to find migratory birds and plenty of tule fog, two subjects that I chase during the winter months. The fog began a half hour before I arrived at my destination, and when I arrived as the first light came to the sky I heard thousands of birds in the distance.

At first it was too dark and the atmosphere too opaque for photography, so I headed out to find the source of the sounds. Soon I encountered a large flock of snow geese which departed a moment later. Moving on I got to a spot where I could hear the easily recognized sound of cranes nearby. I could just barely see them though the thick fog, but I stopped and waited, and as the fog drifted a bit I was able to spot them and make a few photographs of a group standing in shallow wetlands.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Five Sandhill Cranes

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Five Sandhill Cranes
A chorus of five sandhill cranes in California’s Central Valley.

Five Sandhill Cranes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A chorus of five sandhill cranes in California’s Central Valley.

I have seen a lot of sandhill cranes, but the group behavior seen here was new to me — the entire quintet raising their heads and displaying open beaks. I’m endlessly fascinated by the things that the birds and others do, and I’m often mystified by the purposes of these actions. In fairness, they may also be mystified by people showing up nearby, standing around with large metal and glass objects, and pointing them in their direction.

It is a bit unusual to get very close to sandhill cranes, at least in my experience. They have boundaries, and they are not amenable to having them crossed. I’ve mentioned previously that groups of them flying toward me will almost always divert to one side or the other rather than flying directly over head. When approached — which I always do in a non-aggressive manner, never getting very close — they seem fine up to a point. But once that point is reached, usually while I’m a good distance away, they are clearly uncomfortable with my presence and I don’t get closer. I’ve often had the best luck when photographing from a vehicle, especially when I can approach slowly and silently or, better yet, when I can park and wait for them. That’s what happened here — I was stopped along a rural roadway and they walked parallel to my position, perhaps more securely since my vehicle was on the opposite side of a berm from them.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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