Tag Archives: geese

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Ross’s Geese In Flight

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Three Ross's Geese In Flight
Three Ross’s Geese in flight against cloudy winter sky

Three Ross’s Geese In Flight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three Ross’s Geese in flight against cloudy winter sky

Quite a few years ago, the first migratory birds that caught my interest in the wild were geese. I specifically recall the occasion or, more correctly, two occasions. (They may or may not have occurred on the same trip — I no longer recall for sure.) The first was on the long drive north from the San Francisco Bay Area. I had departed late in the day, planning to get a motel in the southern Oregon and then complete the drive the next day. Far up the Sacramento Valley at sunset and then on into dusk I began to see huge flocks of the birds over this agricultural landscape. I really didn’t understand what I was seeing, but I was impressed and it planted a seed.

Then, perhaps on the same trip or possibly on another Seattle visit at about this time, I drove up to the Skagit Valley area. As I drove I saw the remarkable trumpeter swans that are found there, and eventually I pulled over on a curve near some old buildings by fields. Far off in the distant sky I started to see strings of birds, and a few minutes later snow geese began landing right next to me… and they kept coming, until the entire field was filled with the white birds. You can imagine how impressed I was — I had not seen something like this before! I made the photograph shared here much later and in a different place.

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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.
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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

Morning Fly-Out

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Morning Fly-Out
Migratory geese take to the air in morning light and thin tule fog

Morning Fly-Out. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Migratory geese take to the air in morning light and thin tule fog

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am (finally!) going back and revisiting my 2017 (!) photographs. I usually review the previous year’s raw files each December as I come up with my annual favorites post. However, I didn’t do that post (yet) for 2017, and I therefore missed that all-important opportunity look through the year’s raw file archive. Why is that important? For various reasons, which could be the subject of an article at some point, I miss some interesting photographs right after I make them — perhaps I had to move on to other subjects, I may not yet have been able to “see” the images for what they are, etc.

This comes from the very beginning of 2017, in the middle of winter. In many parts of the country winter is when migratory birds show up, as they arrive in our relatively warmer climate from areas that may be literally frozen during this season. Geese are among the long-distance travelers, and every fall and winter I look forward to their return all up and down the California flyway. I photographed this group early in the morning as the sun arrived and the birds began to leave their overnight accommodations in wetland ponds.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese and Pond, Sunset

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Geese and Pond, Sunset
Snow geese and Ross’s geese on a small island in a wetland pond

Geese and Pond, Sunset. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Snow geese and Ross’s geese on a small island in a wetland pond

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we expect temperatures as high as 100 degrees in inland areas. Summer is here, and with a vengeance. I like summer — long daylight hours, little need to worry about that warm jacket, and more — but it is not my favorite season. I prefer the shortening days and golden colors of fall, the interesting weather and light of winter, and the reawakening of spring, to be honest. In other words, with this photograph I am engaging in a bit of nostalgia for the past winter and a bit of expectation of the seasons that follow the one in which we now find ourselves.

While we might think of winter as being a time of less life and growth — which is surely true in most places when it comes to vegetation — the annual migration of birds inclines in the opposite direction. At the time of year when days are short, weather is cold, and growing things are in decline… the birds show up again. I photographed these birds on a late-autumn evening in early December, when trees were still shedding fall leaves and the birds were just beginning to return along the Pacific flyway.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Twilight Flight

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Twilight Flight
A rush of (mostly) geese at the end of the day

Twilight Flight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A rushing blur of birds at the end of the day

First, I do know how to make sharp photographs of birds, too… ;-)

There are many things I can’t really explain about winter bird populations. But as I have watched them (and listened to their remarkable sound) from Washington to California, I am starting to at recognize a few more patterns. At times some birds become increasingly active, and at the end of the day, as light fades, there may be opportunities to depict the motions of individual birds and flocks in a different way — rather than trying to stop motion I just go with longer shutter speeds, pan with groups as they fly by, and let the motion blur take over. Frankly, in many ways I think that this confusing blur may better evoke the wild actions of these evening flocks.

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