Tag Archives: geese

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

Winter Wetlands and Sky

January 6, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ross’s geese flock on California Central Valley winter wetlands

To simplify, there are two common conditions in California’s Central Valley in winter: dense tule fog that reduces the visibility to mere feet, and immense open skies above the flatlands that reveal the distant snow-covered mountains. Sometimes both condiments — and, to be fair, some other possibilities — reveal themselves on the same day, as happened on this New Year’s Day visit.

We headed out to the Great Valley before dawn, arriving to a combination of scattered tule fog that continued to fill in as the morning went on, eventually turning the day rather gray. We spent the morning photographing this landscape and the tens of thousands of migratory birds that occupy it this time of year. By mid afternoon the sky began to clear as winds blew away most of the fog to reveal a clouded-studded blue sky above the expansive wetlands. Here that sky is reflected in a wetland pond — and a bit further out from the camera position you may be able to make out the flock of many thousands of Ross’s and snow geese on the water.

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

Trees, Fog, and Geese

January 4, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ross’s geese fly through early morning fog and among trees in California’s Central Valley

A small group of us met before dawn on New Year’s Day, as we do each year, at a location in the California Central Valley, with the plan of welcoming the (literal!) dawn of the new year in the company of a few photographer friends and few tens of thousands of feathered friends.

It is typical for there to be tule fog in parts of the Central Valley on winter mornings, and we encountered some as we drove. However, we were surprised to find that it had pretty much cleared by the time we arrived, and we actually got to see the sun rise above a distant fog bank. But not long after this the fog began to move back in — first isolated pockets formed above creeks and ponds, and soon it began to collect in long streamers passing overhead. I bracketed a flock of Ross’s geese between a nearby solitary tree (with a couple of hawks that you may spot if you look closely) and a further line of cottonwoods as the fog began to thicken.

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

Geese, Wetland Pond, Dusk

December 31, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Geese depart in dusk sky above a San Joaquin Valley wetland pond

This photograph might be just a little bit deceptive. It looks still and quiet — and, in a sense, it is — but this time of evening can be one of great motion and sound, too. These margins of the day at dawn and dusk are when the birds “switch gears,” moving from place to place and activity to activity at the moments of light-dark transition.

But let’s go with the still and quiet notion for now. In fact, after a busy day of traveling around to find and photograph birds and related subjects, a couple of friends and I made a decision to pick this spot and stay put. We often try to second-guess the birds, but they weren’t giving us any obvious or useful hints about their plans for this evening. So we stopped, and we waited. Birds did appear, and we had at least one great assembly and fly-in not far from our location, but eventually the light faded and things slowed down and it became… still and quiet.

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

Three Snow Geese

December 14, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three snow geese in flight over San Joaquin Valley wetlands

There are many ways to photograph geese in these California Central Valley locations, where they spend the winter months after migrating down from points far to the north. Great flocks of them settle in on ponds in these areas, or sometimes gather in fields. At other times giant flocks fill the sky, especially when something spooks them and thousands will take to the air at once, producing a sound that is the combination of their excited cries and the rush of wind from their wings. Large groups of them come and go throughout the day. Occasionally smaller groups, like this trio, arrive and circle before finding a spot to land and join the flock.

I confess that part of the fun with these groups comes from the challenge of trying to track and photograph them as they move so quickly. With practice one can find a few hints about their trajectory — they will circle a few times and they always land facing into the breeze — but they move fast, the light on their feathers changes, and they spend most of their time facing in the wrong direction! I saw this group coming in from a good distance away, and I tracked them as they approached a spot to my right, banked into a turn, and passed in front of me as they crossed to my left, circled away, and then returned to face the wind and land.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: geese

Winter Wetlands and Sky

Trees, Fog, and Geese

Geese, Wetland Pond, Dusk

Three Snow Geese

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.