“One Departs, One Remains” — A juvenile osprey leaves the nest while its sibling remains.
This is a bit of a serendipitous photograph. I had been photographing landscape subjects since before dawn, but the early light had now dissipated. I figured I was done for the morning, so I shouldered my gear and started ambling in a direction that would take me back to my vehicle. Along the way I saw a little side path marked “dead end” that led toward the water, so I thought I’d take a look. A few feet later I was through some brush and on a rocky beach. A woman was there photographing, and she pointed out two juvenile ospreys at a nest atop a rocky formation just offshore.
“About to Land” — Two geese landing at a Central Valley wetland pond.
On this sunny February day, we stopped briefly at a wetland area in California’s Central Valley, breaking up the long drive home from Death Valley National Park. We had actually departed the park one day earlier, stopping overnight and then continuing the next morning. Shortening the drive this way made it easier to get here before sunset. We found geese in a pond, and paused to make some photos before continuing on home.
“Dawn Geese, Sierra Silhouette” — Migratory geese fill the Central VAlley dawn sky above the silhouette of the Sierra Nevada.
Surprisingly, for those of us who love winter, spring can evoke some of the same bittersweet feelings that autumn evokes. The season of interesting weather, dramatic skies, and migratory birds is passing. With that in mind I made one more visit to the Central Valley to see if the birds had departed. Some had — I saw no sandhill cranes at all. But I was treated to a stupendous dawn fly-out of geese.
I half expected that snow geese and Ross’s geese would have left already. In the past they were there at the beginning of the month but gone before the Ides of March. I arrived before sunrise and saw no geese at all, but a few minutes later I heard a few in the distance. I headed that way, and soon tremendous fly-outs began all over the surrounding wetlands. Thousands of geese took off into the colorful cloudy sky above the distant Sierra Nevada during the next half hour. And then they were gone.
“Ross’s Geese in Flight” — Ross’s geese descend toward a wetland pond.
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…
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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