Tag Archives: eat

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

Foraging Snowy Egret

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Foraging Snowy Egret
“Foraging Snowy Egret” — A foraging snowy egret about to eat its catch in Central Valley wetlands.

Almost any time I spot any sort of egret, it seems like the bird is busy eating. The snowy and great egrets, in particular, always seem to be hunting — and they are quite expert at it. I had gone to a little point overlooking a pond, intending to photograph small birds, when I noticed this snowy egret in the plants along the shoreline. I began photographing, figuring that it would quickly fly off or at least begin to edge away — but it stuck around and continued foraging.

The first I heard of these birds was in a college natural history class. The professor was a particular fan of the snowy egrets — I believe he wrann a group working to protect them. Oddly, I don’t recall actually seeing the birds or at least learning to recognize them until decades later. The first egrets I remember seeing were great egrets that I would encounter along creeks in the early morning, but since I began paying more attention I have seen many snowy egrets and a few of their other cousins.

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: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man With Ice Cream Bar

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Man With Ice Cream Bar
A man eating an ice cream bar on a Manhattan night

Man With Ice Cream Bar. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man eating an ice cream bar on a Manhattan night.

As I continue revisiting some old raw file archives from nearly a decade ago, I’ve been going through some photographs from a weeklong visit to New York City. We were there partly for music-related activities, partly for family reasons, and partly to make photographs. A few years’ distance from the immediate experience lets me see the photographs a bit more objectively, I think, and I’ve found several that I think are worth sharing now.

For five or six years I’ve been doing a lot of handheld night street photography, but this photograph comes from before that period —actually from a single evening in Manhattan when I began photographing in twilight and just kept going. There are multiple ways to “read” this photograph. I think that one initial approach may be less than complimentary to the subject, but the more I think about it the more I see other perspectives that are positive. I’ll leave it to viewers to sort that out!

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 and Amazon.

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

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

Bull Tule Elk, Point Reyes

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Bull Tule Elk, Point Reyes
Bull Tule Elk, Point Reyes

Bull Tule Elk, Point Reyes. Point Reyes National Seashore, California. May 30, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bull tule elk grazes among the grassy hills near Drakes Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore.

The group of bull tule elk that I encountered at Point Reyes National Seashore on Memorial Day was large and tended to stick together very closely. Most of the photographs that I shot include multiple animals. However, this fellow paused for a moment as the others moved to the right and I had a chance to make a few photographs containing only a single elk. He was even thoughtful enough to pose in front of the rolling green hills rising above Tomales Bay in the distance!

The elk were apparently native to Point Reyes – and much of the rest of California – but were decimated in the 1800s as a result of hunting and displacement by cattle. As I understand it, a small group was reintroduced to Point Reyes in the 1970s or thereabouts. Eventually they were so successful that the herd began to expand to other areas of the park, and the area has now reached it normal carrying capacity for these animals. This specimen and the group it was part of were along the top of the rolling hills above Drakes Bay.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Seagull in Flight with Starfish

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Seagull in Flight with Starfish
Seagull in Flight with Starfish

Seagull in Flight with Starfish. Near Davenport, California. May 15, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A seagull in flight carrying a starfish in its beak.

This is an odd little photograph that I’ve been holding on to for some time, waiting to finally post it. When you photograph the natural word, every so often something unexpected happens, and sometimes you don’t even realize what happened until later. (I once made a photograph of a fog shrouded Pacific Coast scene, and it wasn’t until months later while working on the photograph in post that I realized that a small but energetic waterfall was in the scene!)

In mid-May I spent some time photographing shore birds skimming along the cliff edge above the Pacific coast not far from Davenport California. The basic approach is to find a location where the birds come close to the cliff edge and where there is a suitable background (if the birds follow the “right” path) and to then wait and quickly track the birds as they cross my field of view, often shooting in burst mode when they are in their best positions. After a while the actions begin (fortunately!) to become somewhat automatic: spot bird or group of birds, find bird(s) in viewfinder, get birds into the right part of the frame, begin panning with the anticipated path of the bird(s), keep bird(s) in the good part of the frame and under AF points, track and shoot, watch bird(s) disappear, lather, rinse, repeat.

As this bird went past I recall thinking something like, “What the heck was in its mouth?” No time to actually see while shooting, but later I found that it was carrying a medium size starfish, fully intact and with legs extending from its mouth!

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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