Tag Archives: geese

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Migration

March 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ross’s geese fly across a cloud-filled late winter sky, San Joaquin Valley

By all of the usual standards, this was a spectacularly beautiful weekend here in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. Yesterday the temperature reached into the low seventy-degree range as I drove up US-5 from one photography location to another. People were wearing shorts. Daylight savings time began today (and I’ll complain about that elsewhere! ;-) and the light feels like it lasts an hour longer. The weeds are coming up in our garden, but that means that we’ll have a vegetable garden again before long.

I imagine that anyone reading this who lives in a place with real winter won’t understand this, but I have mixed feelings about the end of winter. I’m much more interested in the extremes of winter weather, and every spring I realize that it will likely be months until I again see 30+ foot waves along the Pacific coast, new snow in the Sierra, a good rain storm, or the arrival of migratory birds in the Central Valley. The main purpose of this weekend’s drive around the San Joaquin Valley, the lower Sacramento Valley, and areas of the delta was to visit those birds one more time before the marshes dry up and the birds head back to the north. I made this photograph in the morning when, to my surprise, what started out looking like a clear spring-like day turned foggy and more like winter. The birds were still there – and in large numbers in many places – and at one point lines of them flew in front of this cloud for several minutes.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Approaching Geese, Evening

February 13, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ross’s geese approach their evening landing spot on a hazy late-autumn evening in California’s Central Valley.

This is yet another photograph of Ross’s geese from our December 2012 trek to the migratory bird areas of California’s Central Valley. We saw nearly all of the possible seasonal weather types on this day, save actual rain (that held off for another day) and clear, unfiltered sunlight. But other than that the day transitioned from so-thick-you-can-barely-drive tule fog, to clearing and drifting fog, to fog burning off, to brilliantly luminous winter haze, to dull and gray light as the first clouds of an incoming storm began to arrive, to the finale of a suddenly and unexpectedly colorful sunset.

After a mid-afternoon break to grab a bit to eat, we returned to this wildlife refuge in hopes of photographing the fly-in. Indeed, there were many thousands of Ross’s geese around, settled into pastures and occasionally lifting off to circle the area and then land again. But the light became increasingly dull as the first clouds of an approaching Pacific winter weather system arrived in the west. I made this photograph in what was, in many ways, rather gloomy light, though it is apparent that the sky is just beginning to pick up a hint of the pink that soon developed into a downright amazingly intense sunset. At this particular point in the evening I had positioned myself beyond the end of a large flock that stretched from nearly my position to the line of trees seen in the distance. It seemed that many of the geese were starting to move from the far end of the flock to closer to my position, so I was a in a good spot to photograph them straight on as they approached, and I had managed to position the slightly darker trees behind them, allowing their lighter bodies to stand out a bit. This group was just about to set down not far in front of me.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Central Valley, Winter Dusk

February 9, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A line of geese fly in front of the first clouds of an approaching winter storm front above California’s Central Valley.

This photograph was made at a late enough time in the evening that it was becoming hard to see in the same detail that the camera has. The sun had gone down and the light reflected up into the clouds was beginning to fade, and Central Valley haze filled the air, partially obscuring the details on anything more than a few hundred feet away.

We were surprised and pleased to have a spectacular sunset as the clouds of an incoming weather system that had early blocked the light were now lit up from below as the sun dropped to the horizon. The intense colors of the red clouds were almost too bright to photograph. Here I used a long lens to isolate a small section of the terrain to the west that held a group of silhouetted trees, with the Coast Range mountains beyond, and the sky turning all shades of purple, orange, and red. Although it may be difficult to see in this small jpg, a long line of geese is traveling from right to left high in the sky.

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

Cranes and Geese, Morning Fog

January 29, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Sandhill cranes and Ross’s Geese in flight through clearing morning fog, San Joaquin Valley

While I still cannot resist the challenge of trying to get a good, sharp photograph of a bird filling the frame, more and more I’m interested less in individual birds and more in their environment and their place in it, along with trying to evoke a sense of what these places are like. I think these photographs are meant more to be suggestive than descriptive, and I’m happy if not everything is quite clear to see. (I can tell you that being in these places, not everything is clear either!)

The fog was playing interesting games with us on this morning. This location often seems to be foggy, even when nearby areas are clear, probably because it is low and very wet. Compared to some mornings, it was not as foggy as it can be when we arrived, and it was possible to see some distance as we drove the gravel road that circles the marsh. We found a likely area to stop and photograph birds, including cranes, geese, pelicans, ducks, and more. Close to sunrise, it suddenly became more foggy, to the point that many nearby objects were obscured – even though the fog was so shallow that birds flying just above it were illuminated by weak dawn light. This photograph is one of a series I made as small groups of sandhill cranes came towards us from across a pond. Handholding the camera I tracked them as they approached, trying to make exposures as they moved into position against any sort of interesting background. Here that background turned out to be a few other birds – mostly geese – and some clumps of reeds barely visible in the fog.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: geese

Approaching Geese, Evening

Like this:

Central Valley, Winter Dusk

Like this:

Cranes and Geese, Morning Fog

Like this:

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

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

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