Tag Archives: morning

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

Sunrise, Marshland, Birds

March 4, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thousands of migratory geese fly above foggy San Joaquin Valley marshland at dawn

On this late-February day we arrived at the wetlands well before dawn, slowed by heavy tule fog along the final miles of our route. The fog was thick but not deep, and while our horizontal view was obscured we could see that objects as short as utility poles extended above the fog layer. At our destination we finally stopped, and got out of the vehicle to set up camera equipment and to get the lay of the land.

Almost immediately flocks of geese began erupting from ponds and taking to the sky, thousands at a time. First a group nearby, then one far off to one side, then another at the distant edge of the refuge, and so on until the sky was filled with them. We thought that it was perhaps the greatest bird tumult that we had seen, and we had arrived just in time to see it. (Of course, only a few days later we experienced an even more monumental evening, with tens of thousands of geese and cranes.) At first we simply photographed the birds in the low light, but eventually I turned my attention to the landscape and made a few photographs across the tule ponds toward the first light developing above the Sierra crest far to our east.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Geese, Dawn Sky, Fog

March 2, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tens of thousands of Ross’ geese take to the dawn sky above San Joaquin Valley wetlands

We always hope for fog on our winter visits to these places where the Pacific Flyway migratory birds are found out in California’s Central Valley. Despite the attractions of clear and sunny mornings — especially when it comes to driving — the fog lends mystery to the landscape and works wonders with the early morning light. We were not disappointed on this morning, and the fog was very thick when we arrived. For a short time it was thick enough to make driving difficult, but as dawn approached the atmosphere cleared enough to let us see clouds above the airborne geese.

At this point in the season, the time when the geese depart for points (far) north is very close, and it seems like the geese must know. They seem to be much more active and they congregate in larger numbers, frequently taking to the air in astonishing clouds of thousands or tens of thousands of birds. Within minutes of our arrival on this morning, huge groups of them took to the air all over the surrounding landscape, starting out in tightly packed flocks that gradually expanded to fill the sky.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Subalpine Lake, Morning Reflections

February 4, 2016 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Morning light and reflections on the rocky shoreline of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

A wonderful thing about making photographs is that I get to travel backwards and forwards in time almost at will. Here it is in the middle of winter, and by looking back a few months in my archive I can go right back to a beautiful late summer week spent photographing around a Yosemite subalpine lake with a couple of friends. All of the sensory memories come right back: the stillness of the morning lake as the first sun worked its way through high clouds and haze, the memory of carrying my camera around the perimeter of that lake every morning as I looked slowly of subjects, the first colors of Sierra autumn.

We camped here for a full week, working intensively to photograph in and around one small area. If you haven’t done this you could be forgiven for wondering how in the world one could spend an entire week in area not much larger than a mile or two across. In fact, I still have those doubts at the start of any trip like this. All I can say is that, inevitably, the end of such a week comes too soon, I depart with many things left unphotographed, and I often return to these places again and find even more to see and photograph.

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

Winter Geese, Morning

January 22, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thousands of migratory geese take to the air at dawn above San Joaquin Valley wetlands

Before dawn on New Year’s Day, when a group of friends, artists, and photographers arrived for our annual celebration of the literal dawn of a new year, this wildlife refuge area, a favorite of ours, was oddly quiet. More typically we exit our vehicles to the raucous sound of thousands of birds — geese, cranes, and more. But we heard almost no birds in the morning twilight. We split up and went off to find out where the birds were and several of us eventually ended up outside the refuge along the passing roadway, where there are some large ponds. At least there were some geese here.

We never know what we’ll find. It might be the most astonishing day of tens or thousands of birds in the air, in the fields, on the water, in and among trees. Or it might be quiet. Either will work — when the birds are more scarce we tend to turn to the landscape. These thoughts were going through my mind as we tried to photograph the small flock of geese on the pond outside the fence. But soon, and somewhat unexpectedly, large groups of Ross’s and/or snow geese began to arrive from the south, coming in above a row of winter-bare trees, circling a bit, and then landing on the pond, and at times filling the sky above the wetland landscape.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: morning

Sunrise, Marshland, Birds

Geese, Dawn Sky, Fog

Subalpine Lake, Morning Reflections

Winter Geese, Morning

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