Tag Archives: pond

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Panamint Range, Reflection

May 14, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The east face of the Panamint Range is reflected in the surface of a desert pool

This is a photograph of one of those surprising features of Death Valley — water in the middle of a place that is astonishingly arid. This location is one of the lowest, hottest, and driest places in the Valley, and beyond this pool is a terrain that is particularly inhospitable, the famous salt flats. It is not pleasant to venture out there on a hot and sunny day, when not only is the heat oppressive but the light is so intense on the white playa surface that it is almost impossible to look.

I went here quite early one morning, in time for the sunrise light across the Valley on the mountains of the Panamint Range. In many ways this was not a hugely promising morning. I would have preferred some interesting clouds, though the thing high clouds are not completely uninteresting. It might have been nice to have white salt flats, but the playa had apparently gone so long without rain and had experience enough wind that the sometimes-white salt was quite gray. This little pool, at the edge of the Valley and the base of the tall and rugged hills, mirrored the early morning sky and a bit of the dawn color on the mountains.

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Black Necked Stilt Feeding

March 8, 2015 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A black necked stilt feeds in a San Joaquin Valley wetland marsh

Something that quickly becomes apparent when you are around a variety of birds, especially those that live in and around water, is the tremendous range of specific adaptations they have made in order to be successful in rather narrow ecological niches. I first recall seeing this when I was much younger and someone, probably a middle school science teacher, pointed out that birds along the San Francisco Bay shoreline often were distributed in water of varying depths that suited the lengths of their beaks and legs. The same sort of thing is visible in these California Central Valley wetlands, where some birds are adapted to dry land, others to hunting in the brush, and others to success in varying depths of water.

The black-necked stilt is a very attractive bird, with its striking white and black plumage, its thin beak, and its tremendously long red legs. It is also a highly adapted bird — those long legs and back let it forage in slightly deeper water. Most often I see them in somewhat shallower water than seen here, where the bird’s legs are visible above the water line. But this one was making maximum good use of its long legs, which are just long enough to keep it out of the water as it feeds. A moment after I made this photograph the bird took off.

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

The Wetlands, Late Winter

March 7, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

San Joaquin Valley wetlands on a late winter morning

About a week ago we headed off to Yosemite Valley for a few days, primarily to attend the opening reception of the 30th annual Yosemite Renaissance Exhibit in The Valley, but also to spend some time there in what we hoped might be interesting and possibly snowy conditions. Given the way this year has gone, it shouldn’t be surprising that the hopes of snow were not met — though there was a five-minute flurry in the morning in the Valley and we found a few inches of new snow by climbing up out of the Valley. But “there is always something to see,” and there was no shortage of other things to photograph.

On our way to the Valley from the San Francisco Bay Area we made a short morning stop at a favorite migratory bird hangout. Typically we arrive here by dawn and encounter thick tule fog. This morning was different and more spring-like with sun and a few puffy clouds overhead. While it seems wrong to see this weather in what should be winter, it still was beautiful, and I made this simple photograph of a quite wetlands marsh where I more typically photograph in fog very early in the morning.

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

Wetlands, Winter Fog

February 26, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Wetlands with thick early morning tule fog, San Joaquin Valley, California

The initial draw of this area of the San Joaquin Valley, with its wetlands and winter tule fog, was birds — the many thousands of seasonal migratory birds including geese, sandhill cranes, and ibises along with egrets, herons, pelicans, owls, hawks, an occasional eagle, and more. During winter, this agricultural area is given over almost completely to the is wildlife — something that I did not know for many years, despite living in California almost my entire life. However, the more I’ve photographed out here, the more my interest has evolved beyond just the birds to include the landscape itself, and especially the foggy landscape.

It is hard to describe the experience of being here in winter to a person who doesn’t share the experience. Frankly, the terrain is easily dismissed as the sort of thing you would drive through or past on your way to some place more interesting. That was certainly my notion, as I passed though here for years on my way to and from the Sierra. But out here on a cold, foggy and still winter morning, when your world closes down to perhaps a radius of a few hundred feet at best, and the sounds of birds come through the fog from all directions, this becomes a very special kind of place unlike any other that I know in this state.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: pond

Panamint Range, Reflection

Black Necked Stilt Feeding

The Wetlands, Late Winter

Wetlands, Winter Fog

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