Tag Archives: fly

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

Post-Sunset Geese

Leave a comment
Post-Sunset Geese
Winter geese fly toward San Joaquin Valley wetlands after sunset

Post-Sunset Geese. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter geese fly toward wetlands after sunset

These days photographing wild birds are frequently long. For me they begin about three hours before dawn, when I awake to a (very) early alarm, grab coffee and a bit of food, load my vehicle, and start out on a two-hour drive in the darkness. As I approach my destination the first color is coming to the sky above the Sierra — that is if tule fog doesn’t reduce visibility to 100 feet or so! I arrive a half hour before sunrise, set up camera equipment, and begin to work. At first I may make some landscape photographs, since it is often still too early to handhold the camera for bird photography, but soon the first birds fly up from the ponds. I usually spend the next three hours of so photographing birds and landscape — though the precise time varies depending on the conditions — and then I take a break in the middle of the day. By mid-afternoon I’m back, looking for evening photographic opportunities, and the pace of the work increases as sunset approaches. During the last few minutes of light a lot happens quickly, and then I photograph until the light is gone.

I made this photograph during that late period, following sunset, when lingering light colored the thin clouds above the western mountains. Around sunset there is a period of coming and going by the birds. Birds may rise up from ponds and fly away, or flocks may arrive from distant points and settle in for the night. Often cranes arrive just after sunset. The birds in this photograph are geese, most likely Ross’s geese, approaching the wetland ponds from that western sunset sky.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Cranes, Woodland Haze

Leave a comment
Cranes, Woodland Haze
A flock of sandhill cranes flies above San Joaquin Valley fields and woodland.

Cranes, Woodland Haze. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes flies above fields and woodland.

Yesterday I managed to make it out the valley with the main goal of visiting the reception for “Valley Focus: On Photography,” a wonderful exhibit at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock. (Note: Those of us in the San Francisco Bay Area, spoiled by the proximity of a lot of really top-notch art, sometimes forget that there is “good stuff” elsewhere in the state. The Carnegie Center is a fine example.) It is about a two-hour drive out there from my home, and I was thinking that I could leave in the mid-afternoon and make it in time for the 5:00 PM reception… until I was reminded of something I should have been thinking of, the monumentally awful commute traffic along my intended route between the Bay Area and the Central Valley. So I left early, with a plan to visit some wild areas I have wanted to look at for some time.

It rained, sometimes hard, during the first part of the drive, but as I dropped down into the great valley it was clear that I had gotten ahead of the weather front — clouds behind me, broken clouds and blue sky ahead, and glowing light coming over the mountains to the west. I headed south and then east, finally locating a somewhat out-of-the-way spot where there was access to bird viewing. It wasn’t the ideal place to watch the birds, but there were some wonderful woodlands off to the west along a river. I made this photograph from a slightly elevated position, looking toward those trees as a flock of sandhill cranes arrived and then landed nearby.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Sandhill Cranes, Morning Light

Leave a comment
Sandhill Cranes, Morning Light
A group of sandhill cranes flies in early morning light

Sandhill Cranes, Morning Light. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 1, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of sandhill cranes flies in early morning light

It wasn’t that long ago when I first began to photograph the birds in the San Joaquin Valley. I was oblivious to their presence for many, many years — which is strange, since I have traveled across that valley for decades on my way to and from the Sierra and other locations. Perhaps a bit more than a decade ago I got my first hint on a long drive to Seattle, when I passed through the Sacramento Valley and was shocked to see huge flocks of geese in the evening sky. Later, almost as an accident, a friend mentioned a location where there are sandhill cranes and, looking for something to photography, I went off to find the spot and, again, thousands of birds. From that time forward, photographing the birds in fall and winter has become a passion.

At first it was the geese that got my attention. Anyone who has seen flocks of thousands of snow geese or Ross’s geese suddenly fill the sky, or who has heard the sound they make will understand why them made such an impression. But somehow the cranes have become more and more the birds that define these places for me. Their call is like that of no other bird that I know, and they are often heard before they are seen. Their manner of flight is often more sedate than that of geese, and they often tend to fly at low elevations and in straight lines. This group flew overhead in the early morning light.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Crane, Tree, Morning Sky

Leave a comment
Crane, Tree, Morning Sky
A solitary sandhill crane flies into pre-dawn sky above a silhouetted tree and San Joaquin Valley wetlands

Crane, Tree, Morning Sky. San Joaquin Valley, California. December 9, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary sandhill crane flies into pre-dawn sky above a silhouetted tree and San Joaquin Valley wetlands

By now you may be getting the idea that I like the brief pre-dawn interval, especially out in this autumn and winter wetlands of Central California. If so, you are right! There is a period of perhaps a half hour or so when the sky begins go glow, and the wetlands birds start their morning rituals — flying out from their overnight spots and generally raising a ruckus. Aside from their noise and fury, the rest of the landscape can be very quiet, as in this photograph.

On this morning I arrived early as usual, paused to set up my gear for photography, then began a circumnavigation of the area, slowing and stopping as various subject appeared. This bare tree, surrounding by reflecting water and set against the pre-dawn sky, caught my attention and I paused to make a few photographs. During this one a solitary crane passed through the scene.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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