Tag Archives: pond

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Trees, Late Autumn

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Wetland Trees, Late Autumn
A row of trees with fall color, Central Valley wetlands.

Wetland Trees, Late Autumn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A row of trees with fall color, Central Valley wetlands.

If there is more beautiful light than muted late-autumn sun on colorful trees against a slightly darkened sky, I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen it. It was a foggy day in the Central Valley of California during this brief season between the heat of summer and early autumn and the cold and often gray winter. For a few weeks there is a surprising amount of autumn color out here, though it took me quite a long time to understand this.

Just when is autumn, anyway? I know that the calendar tells me it begins on the late-September autumnal equinox and that it ends on the December winter solstice, but that’s not quite what it feels like. I used to think that it was when the Eastern Sierra aspens change color, roughly during the first weeks of October. But years ago I began to tune in to subtle changes in the Sierra that clearly said “autumn is coming” as early as August. By September corn lilies, bilberry, and willows show color, but in the lowlands it is still effectively summer. In the Great Valley and in the coastal areas closer to where I live, real fall color doesn’t arrive until November, and it lasts well into December. I have even photographed “fall color” in January of the new year!

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: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Wetland Color

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Autumn Wetland Color
A quiet morning under fog with autumn colors, Central Valley

Autumn Wetland Color. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A quiet morning under fog with autumn colors, Central Valley

Autumn, my favorite season, is a month-and-a-half away by the calendar — and in terms of California weather it is more like three months away. Here the transition is gradual, and the first month of solar autumn still feels more like summer on most days, with warm or even hot temperatures and no sign of changing colors, at least not in the areas closer to the coast. (By early October aspen color does come to the Eastern Sierra Nevada.) We may get teased by a few early weather fronts in October, but the actual rainy season doesn’t start until November — and perhaps later in our changing climate.

This photograph comes from an early December visit to the Great Central Valley, hardly what most people would regard as a great fall color destination. But these wetlands, many of which are preserved in wildlife refuges, attract me in late autumn and winter. Right around the fall/winter boundary there can actually be a fair amount of color out here if you know where to look for it. The main attraction is the migratory birds, but I’ve come to love the quiet landscapes of this region, too. Because I usually arrive very early — typically before sunrise — and on days when most people aren’t out here (I love fog!), I am often nearly the only person sharing these places with a few thousand of my bird friends.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Sandhill Cranes, Winter Wetlands

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Sandhill Cranes, Winter Wetlands
A large group of sandhill cranes assembles in Pacific Flyway wetlands on a winter morning.

Sandhill Cranes, Winter Wetlands. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large group of sandhill cranes assembles in Pacific Flyway wetlands on a winter morning.

This was one of the larger assemblies of sandhill cranes I have seen in California’s Great Central Valley. (Though it still fall far short of the largest group I’ve seen, in an out-of-the way spot in the delta region east of San Francisco Bay.) There are quite a few visible in the photograph, but many more were outside the frame on both sides and extending well into the distance. It seems to me that they are more likely to be part of such groups late in their California season, or at least that the groups are less remote from observation points.

At the point I photographed them, most of the cranes were still relatively settled in on this pond, with only a few coming and going. A bit later they began to depart, typically in small groups of perhaps a half dozen or so. But at this moment, aside from the five who thoughtfully occupied the upper part of the frame, they were mostly stationary as the early morning sun came to the wetlands.

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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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.

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

The Crane Dance, Morning

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The Crane Dance, Morning
Two sandhill cranes perform the ritual “crane dance” as others look on.

The Crane Dance, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two sandhill cranes perform the ritual “crane dance” as others look on.

For the most part, sandhill cranes pretty much… stand around a lot. They often seem to be doing nothing at all, though perhaps they are feeding. Groups will stand in one spot for long periods of time, or perhaps a few may decide to wander a short distance for some reason. (If their path takes them away from you, there is a good chance that you may be closer than you really should be.) They fly out in the morning, and big groups of them often return in the evening, in what I regard as the most dynamic time of day for them.

And then, every so often, they “dance.” A pair of them, or sometimes an individual or even more than two, perform this remarkable ritual. By some combination of hopping and wing flapping they rise abruptly into the air, typically getting no more than a couple of feet off the ground and then dropping back to the same spot. From what I read, this may be a part of their mating/courting ritual, though they do this at other times for what seems to be no discernible reason. Perhaps they just feel like dancing? (In this little scene, I’m intrigued by the interested voyeurs on the left!)

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.