On our return trip from Death Valley in late February we took a short detour in California’s Central Valley to look for migratory geese. Their winter visit to the state is soon coming to an end, so I wanted to see them again this season. It was a quick stop, but we found our geese, and I made this photograph of a small flock of Ross’s geese descending toward a wetland pond.
when I first started photographing birds a couple of decades ago I had little idea what I was doing, but I did know that I wanted to photograph “snow geese.” (Ross’s geese aren’t snow geese, but they are very similar.) The photograph illustrates how much pictures of flocks of birds rely on luck. Note the two geese at lower right, positioned so that one does not obscure the view of the other’s head. Look at the positions of the two more distant geese behind the bird at lower left. And then note the the other four birds are also all positioned so that their heads are visible. You would almost think that they posed for me…
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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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