Tag Archives: flock

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

The Crane Dance, Morning

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The Crane Dance, Morning
Two sandhill cranes perform the ritual “crane dance” as others look on.

The Crane Dance, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two sandhill cranes perform the ritual “crane dance” as others look on.

For the most part, sandhill cranes pretty much… stand around a lot. They often seem to be doing nothing at all, though perhaps they are feeding. Groups will stand in one spot for long periods of time, or perhaps a few may decide to wander a short distance for some reason. (If their path takes them away from you, there is a good chance that you may be closer than you really should be.) They fly out in the morning, and big groups of them often return in the evening, in what I regard as the most dynamic time of day for them.

And then, every so often, they “dance.” A pair of them, or sometimes an individual or even more than two, perform this remarkable ritual. By some combination of hopping and wing flapping they rise abruptly into the air, typically getting no more than a couple of feet off the ground and then dropping back to the same spot. From what I read, this may be a part of their mating/courting ritual, though they do this at other times for what seems to be no discernible reason. Perhaps they just feel like dancing? (In this little scene, I’m intrigued by the interested voyeurs on the left!)

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

Crane Congregation

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Crane Congregation
Sandhill cranes in a wetland pond as the first morning light arrives on a foggy morning.

Crane Congregation. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sandhill cranes in a wetland pond as the first morning light arrives on a foggy morning.

Things have changed a lot since I made this photograph back in early March, barely more than two months ago. At that time a trip to the Central Valley to photograph birds typically involved being completely self-contained, avoiding any unnecessary stops en route, and bringing along a mask and hand cleaner. Two months later and it is quite possible to envision time when things are back to pretty much normal.

Back when I made this trip I worked my way quickly through the images I brought back, but soon had to move on to other projects. Now I am finally finding the time to revisit this collection of many hundreds of raw files (that’s what I end up with when I photograph birds!) and take a closer look at them. I made this photograph very early on this slightly foggy morning, when the first eastern light was struggling to make it though the haze. The cranes were mostly standing quietly in shallow water as the sun arrived, though the tension of their incipient fly-out was already on my mind.

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: 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

Sandhill Cranes, Winter Morning

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Sandhill Cranes, Winter Morning
A large flock of sandhill cranes in a wetland pond on a winter morning.

Sandhill Cranes, Winter Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large flock of sandhill cranes in a wetland pond on a winter morning.

The routine on this (almost certainly ) final day of migratory bird photography for this season was much as it always is, though it started at an earlier hour to accommodate the late winter sunrise. Up at three-something AM and on the road after a quick cup of coffee, I arrived here before dawn. I was pleasantly surprised to find a bit of fog in the air as I began to look for a sunrise subject, and before long I found a very large group of sandhill cranes. When everything works out just right there is a short period of beautiful, warm light as the sun comes up, especially on a morning when a bit of fog or haze softens the light.

This group of cranes was part of an extremely large group of them — perhaps as many as I’ve seen at one time. They have a routine, too. At some point around sunrise they typically begin to take to the air in small groups and fly away, and that process began soon after I started to photograph 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.