Tag Archives: flight

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

Two Cranes in Flight

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Two Cranes in Flight
Two sandhill cranes fly in close formation.

Two Cranes in Flight. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two sandhill cranes fly in close formation.

Since I now have a group of sandhill crane photographs in process it looks like I’ll be continuing to share this subject over the next week or so, mixed in with some other subjects that I’m working on at the same time. These wildlife photographs come from my winter visits to the Pacific Flyway to see geese, cranes, herons, egrets and lots of other seasonal visitors to California.

I’m certainly repeating myself when I write that sandhill cranes have perhaps become my favorite birds among those I photograph. For some reason, perhaps some passages in Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac” that I read decades ago, these birds have fascinated me since I first saw them. Unlike the geese that first attracted me to winter bird photography, cranes tend to be found (at least in these parts) in smaller groups. Where migratory geese are often found in groups of thousands, cranes are more typically in groups which, at their largest, may be in the hundreds, and which may often be as small as a couple of birds, as in this photograph.

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: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Approaching Cranes

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Approaching Cranes
A group of sandhill cranes approaches on a winter morning along the Pacific Flyway.

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

A group of sandhill cranes approaches on a winter morning along the Pacific Flyway.

For the next week or so I expect to indulge my fascination with sandhill cranes as I continue to dig back into photographs from the final day photographing them during this past winter season. Of course, when I’m photographing these birds I am usually also photographing others… and photographing the landscapes in which they are found. So expect come geese and who knows what else along with some winter landscapes from the wetland and agricultural regions where I find these beautiful birds.

Quite a few of my photographs of these cranes tend to are in profile, perhaps as they line up in the wetlands in the early morning, or as they fly past me during the fly-in and fly-out times. There are several reasons for this, but one is that cranes that fly toward humans often divert at the last minute — they seem particularly wary of flying right over us. Often I have figured out the place where cranes were crossing the landscape, gone there to wait for them, and noticed them immediately readjusting their flight path to avoid the spot. This group was more cooperative than most. I stopped and waited during the morning fly-out, and eventually this group headed straight toward me in the early light before diverging at the last moment just a bit to pass on my right.

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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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: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Quartet of Geese

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Quartet of Geese
Four closely-spaced Ross’s geese in flight above the California Central Valley.

Quartet of Geese. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Four closely-spaced Ross’s geese in flight above the California Central Valley.

This is a somewhat straightforward photograph of a small group of Ross’s geese in flight over California’s Central Valley. I made the photograph on a cold January morning back in 2013… which is the sort of thing you might find me doing on January mornings in just about any year.

I often try for some kind of landscape context with these bird photographs, or perhaps some unusual light or color or atmosphere. But this photograph is pretty straightforward — just four geese against the winter sky. One thing I like about it has to do with the positions of the four birds. You can press the shutter a whole lot of times as geese fly by before you get a photograph where four of the birds stand out this clearly and are this visible.

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: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Snow Goose Quartet

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Snow Goose Quartet
Four snow geese in flight against blue sky.

Snow Goose Quartet. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Four snow geese in flight against blue sky.

There was a time when migratory bird photography for me was all about the geese. Their autumn arrival still is the signal that brings me back to the migratory bird areas of Central and Northern California, though I have so many photographs of geese now that it is challenging to find a new away to see them! (Often the photographs end up being as much about the place of the birds in the landscape as about the birds themselves.)

This years “goose photography season” is rapidly drawing to a close, and I expect the flocks to depart for the arctic any day now. (They were still there late last week, but a year ago they were gone by the end of the second week of the month.) I managed to isolate this small group out of a much larger flock, and they obliged by holding formation long enough to make this photograph.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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