Tundra Swans, Mount Shasta, Winter. Klamath Basin, California. February 13, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Tundra swans fly over Klamath Basin and in front of Mount Shasta
Near the conclusion of several days photographing along the Oregon/California border around Klamath Falls I packed up for the last time, loaded my vehicle, and started the long return trip to the San Francisco Bay Area. Since it was a gray and rainy morning I had been lazy, sleeping in until there was some morning light before leaving — it didn’t seem like much of a morning for bird photography, at least not by comparison to the past few days, with their beautiful morning and evening light. I drove through town, picked up my highway, and headed out.
As I drove it was raining lightly and there was mist everywhere. As usually happens, I began to see photographic potential in this winter landscape, and when I saw a cloud-shrouded lake off to one side, I quickly turned onto a side road to investigate. There wasn’t much there to photograph, but I realized that this was the far end of a road along which I had earlier photographed tundra swans. I had no idea how far away they might be, but I wasn’t in a hurry, so I decided to investigate. It turned out that I didn’t have far to go, and too I saw flocks of tundra swans lined up and passing overhead as the rain let up. i turned of this road and onto a gravel track, driving out to an area that appeared to be under the birds’ path, and from there I saw this wintry view of Mount Shasta, with layers of storm clouds stacked above its snow-covered lower slopes — and I waited until a group of the swans passed in front to make this 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 and Amazon.
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