Tag Archives: flyway

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

Cranes in Fog

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Cranes in Fog
A group of lesser sandhill cranes in thick morning fog, California Central Valley.

Cranes in Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of lesser sandhill cranes in thick morning fog, California Central Valley.

Awake almost three hours before sunrise, I headed to the kitchen to make coffee — enough to wake me up and enough to fill a thermos for later. I had mostly packed the car the previous night, so I just had to grab a small bag and head out the door to begin a two-hour pre-dawn drive to a place where I expected to find migratory birds and plenty of tule fog, two subjects that I chase during the winter months. The fog began a half hour before I arrived at my destination, and when I arrived as the first light came to the sky I heard thousands of birds in the distance.

At first it was too dark and the atmosphere too opaque for photography, so I headed out to find the source of the sounds. Soon I encountered a large flock of snow geese which departed a moment later. Moving on I got to a spot where I could hear the easily recognized sound of cranes nearby. I could just barely see them though the thick fog, but I stopped and waited, and as the fog drifted a bit I was able to spot them and make a few photographs of a group standing in shallow wetlands.

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: Central California, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Winter Wetland Trees

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Winter Wetland Trees
A copse of winter wetland trees along the Pacific Flyway, New Year’s Day 2022.

Winter Wetland Trees. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A copse of winter wetland trees along the Pacific Flyway, New Year’s Day 2022.

This photograph is another one from our New Year’s Day adventure with friends under the skies of the Pacific Skyway. We joined up for New Year’s Eve and then New Year’s Day morning to celebrate the arrival of the new year along with a few tens of thousands of our bird friends, something that has become a tradition among this group of friends and (mostly) photographers.

I think that most of us would agree that it is the combination of birds and fog that primarily attracts us to these places in the winter. The attraction of fog might seem strange to those who live in it and have to drive in it and sometimes tolerate weeks of damp and gray. But its presence lends mystery to this landscape and creates an unending variety of conditions of mystery and light. On the morning I made this photograph, the skies were mostly clear, though a combination of high clouds and very thin fog near the ground softened the light on this group of trees.

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

Night Heron in Brush

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Night Heron in Brush
A black-crowned night heron perched in brush in morning light.

Night Heron in Brush. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A black-crowned night heron perched in brush in morning light.

In locations where there are many birds (in my cases, mostly big groups of geese and cranes) the night herons tend to lurk quietly in the background, and it would very easy to completely overlook them. They are much smaller than the lonely but attention-grabbing great blue herons. They are quiet. They tend to sit still among the plants for long periods of time. They keep their distance. I wasn’t even aware of them the first few times I went out to see the winter birds of California’s section of the Pacific Flyway.

But once I realized where to look, they were easy to spot. In good light their white breasts stand out against the darker vegetation in which they hide themselves. While I regard them as mostly stationary birds — at least where I run into them — occasionally I have seen them become more active, including on New Year’s Day when groups of them began to fly to and fro above the brush in the morning sun.

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. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Follow the Leader(s)

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Follow the Leader(s)
A flock of sandhill cranes taking flight over Pacific Flyway wetlands on a winter morning.

Follow the Leader(s). © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes taking flight over Pacific Flyway wetlands on a winter morning.

Yeah, I know — MORE cranes! I can’t help it. They have become my favorite Pacific Flyway migratory birds, plus I had some excellent opportunities to photography them this past winter. (This topic came up in a recent online discussion in which the question of how I managed to find/corral a large number of them came up. I’m thinking of adopting a new moniker: “Crane Wrangler.”)

On this late-winter morning there was just a hint of fog in the air as the sun came up — just enough to mute the first light and some of the more distant colors. A large contingent of these birds, probably well over 1000 of them, was standing in shallow wetland ponds. As the light increased, they gradually began to depart in small groups, and I tracked them as they flew across 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, 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.