Tag Archives: group

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Sandhill Cranes, Morning Light

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Sandhill Cranes, Morning Light
A group of sandhill cranes, flying in morning light above California’s Central Valley.

Sandhill Cranes, Morning Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of sandhill cranes, flying in morning light above California’s Central Valley.

The sandhill cranes are still my favorites among the migratory birds that I photograph every winter. They aren’t quite as abundant, as noisy, or as active as the geese, but they have other attractions. Their characteristic cry is often the first one I hear when I arrive in the field, and their morning take-off often starts my days of photography… and their twilight return concludes it. Their flight patterns are a bit more sedate than those of geese and are characterized by a slower pace of wing motion.

Photographing a group like this can be a bit challenging, and a lot of pieces have to fall into place to make it work. In my experience, flying cranes often tend to divert from their trajectory rather than fly over a photographer, often breaking to one side or the other at the last minute. They also tend to not pay a whole lot of attention to photographic considerations such as orienting themselves ideally to the sun’s light. And when groups do fly overhead they often block one another from view. This little group, however, did everything just right! The flew almost into the early morning light, diverting just enough to put a bit more light on the side facing the camera, and they managed to do so while lining up so that all of their heads were visible!

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: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Blackbirds in Winter Sky

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Blackbirds in Winter Sky
A murmuration of redwing blackbirds above winter wetlands.

Blackbirds in Winter Sky. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A murmuration of redwing blackbirds above winter wetlands.

When I got to these places in the winter to photograph birds — and to experience the wetland winter landscape — I’m usually looking for larger birds. The geese first attracted me, and then I became fascinated with cranes, herons, ibises, pelicans, and more. At first I probably more or less ignored these flocks of small back birds that seemed to be everywhere. More recently, I’ve come to look forward to seeing them.

They are blackbirds, most likely red-winged blackbirds, but also possibly tri-color blackbirds. To my eye the differences are subtle unless I get close enough to see the definite patch on the wings — red in one case, red and white in the other. (And, occasionally, apparently to confound me, I spot odd things such as yellow bands…) These are flocking birds, virtually always seen in groups, and they fly together, sometimes creating murmurations, flocks of closely-spaced birds that shift and reform in flight. Beyond their visual appearance, the sound they make seems utterly joyous, and there are few things quite like being next to a few hundred of them in full song.

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: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Flock of Cranes in Flight

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Flock of Cranes in Flight
A flock of sandhill cranes in flight against clear blue sky.

Flock of Cranes in Flight. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes in flight against clear blue sky.

Today’s post gives me an excuse to explore a few technical (and aesthetic) considerations about photographing birds, so I’m sharing this photograph both as an image and as an illustration of a few things I’ll mention below. I made the photograph in the morning (contrary to a possibly erroneous bit of EXIF data in the file), when the rising sun was still low and the light was muted a bit by thin fog. I positioned myself in a spot that groups of cranes were crossing, and I simply waited for them to approach.

There’s a lot going on inside a dynamic flock like this one. Some things are at least partially subject to decisions by the photographer, while others must simply be accepted as “what is.” Even those that are subject to photographer decisions improve the odds rather than producing certainty. I identified a spot over which groups of birds were flying. I chose to position myself on the “sunny side” of that point so that passing birds would get some direct illumination. This is important, since backlit birds against a back sky are… challenging. The second issue has to do with the positions of the birds in the frame and relative to one another. With practice one can become better at framing the flying birds in desirable ways. More difficult is keeping track of how the birds interact with one another in flight. Ideally you probably want them close together, but you don’t want one bird obscuring the head of a nearby bird. The birds rarely understand this! But you can increase the odds by developing your ability to watch this positional interplay among the birds. You learnt to avoid triggering the shutter when the positions aren’t great and (to some extent) time your shots for when they are. In the end, as in this photograph, while all of these intentional acts help, there are still significant elements of chance in the result… and here it worked and not a single bird’s head is blocked by another in the group.

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, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes, Pond, Autumn Morning

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Cranes, Pond, Autumn Morning
A small flock of sandhill cranes stands in a wetland pond in early morning autumn light.

Cranes, Pond, Autumn Morning. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of sandhill cranes stands in a wetland pond in early morning autumn light.

I am a big fan of these flat landscapes of trees and grasses and ponds and birds, especially between the last month or so of autumn and the end of winter. All up and down California (and in many other places, too) migratory and native birds are everywhere, and while it might seem that there isn’t much happening here from the human perspective, the action is almost continuous in the lives of birds. The first thing I do when I arrive in such places before dawn is open the car window or door and listen — the sound may be that of a few far-off birds or it might be the raucous chorus of thousands of them nearby and overhead, but the striking sound of the cranes is almost always somewhere in the mix.

I began photographing before dawn on this morning as I usually do. I slowly worked my way along a levee, pausing to watch for and then photograph birds in the low light. The first big group I spotted was a large flock of snow geese, but they were not in a great spot for photography, so I kept moving. Soon I came upon a huge flock of hundreds of cranes in and around a pond. At first they were mostly standing still in the shallow water, but gradually they began to become restless and then, group by group, take to the air and fly away. I don’t recall now for sure, but judging by their attentive postures, there’s a good chance that this group left shortly after I made the photograph.

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.

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