Tag Archives: ross

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Sunset Clouds

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Geese, Sunset Clouds
A line of Ross’s geese fly in front of sunset clouds, San Joaquin Valley

Geese, Sunset Clouds. San Joaquin Valley, California. February 28, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A line of Ross’s geese fly in front of sunset clouds, San Joaquin Valley

It is summer… and I miss winter! I used to think that it was more of the case that I simply look forward to whatever season it isn’t, but I have come to realize that summer just isn’t my favorite time of year — at least not for photography. (Don’t take this the wrong way, though. There is plenty to photograph all year long, and I make a lot of photographs during the summer, too.) Over the past few years I have come to love the winter Central Valley, especially when I can photograph migratory birds, fog, and the immense skyscape.

This late-February day was special for photography. Surprisingly, it began in Yosemite Valley, where we had been for several days for the opening on the Yosemite Renaissance exhibit. Up early, we photographed in the Valley until midday, and then we began a lazy westward drive though the foothills that would take us to San Joaquin Valley wetlands to photograph birds at the end of the day.  In the evening there was a tremendous fly-in of geese and cranes, and large flocks passed in front of beautiful clouds. Here a flock of Ross’s geese is backlit by the light from the west.

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

Dawn Arrival

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Dawn Arrival
Winter geese fly in to a Central Valley wetlands pond at dawn

Dawn Arrival. Central Valley, California. January 1, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter geese fly in to a Central Valley wetlands pond at dawn

Near the end of May I revisited some photographs from the past year, including a set that I made on an annual New Year’s Day visit to California’s Central Valley. For several years now a group of friends, photographers, artists, and more have greeted the dawn of the new year by going together before dawn to celebrate the new year and the annual spectacle of the winter bird migration into the valley. So, during the first week when the temperatures here in California rose into the nineties, I enjoyed recalling a foggy morning when they sat near freezing.

We arrived a half hour before dawn to find patchy, thinning fog. We set out trying to determine, in the half-light, where the birds might be, and soon some were spotted settling in on a nearby pond. We headed that way, and I lined up a view across the pond, past quiet foreground birds and past a row of trees toward the eastern sky, which was gradually beginning to brighten. I made this photograph as another small group of birds was flying in to join those already on the pond

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Twilight Birds

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Twilight Birds
A flock of geese against twilight sky above the Central Valley

Twilight Birds. Central Valley, California. February 5, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of geese against twilight sky above the Central Valley

February was mostly a very good month for photographing migratory birds in the Central Valley this winter. This was a relief, quite honestly, after the past four years of drought and increasingly dire conditions in the Valley and throughout the state. In normal times, the wildlife refuges where I often photograph can be filled with water and life in the winter — flowing creeks and flooded fields where thousands of birds collect. But much of this water comes from sources that are not local, and as they dried up the refuges also began to shrink the acreage that was under water. It was sad to see locations that I’ve thought of as ponds become plain, dry fields. And at times the birds seemed to suffer a bit, too, or at least change their habits. Back in the late fall, before the course of the winter season became clear and Northern and Central California received rain again, we were concerned about what would happen this year.

But in most of California the rains came, at times heavy, and water flows once again. The birds returned, and sometimes it seemed that there numbers were exploding with the return of water. By February it wasn’t uncommon to find many thousands of birds in the refuges, and by late in the month the scene was downright wild, with all kinds of geese, huge numbers of cranes, and much more. In the evening things become active, and as the light fails I often continue to photograph, but at longer shutter speeds that allow me to work with the moving poetry of blurred birds in flight against dusk sky.

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

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

Geese Above, Cranes Below

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Geese Above, Cranes Below
Late winter flocks of Ross’ and other geese and lesser sandhill cranes in the San Joaquin Valley

Geese Above, Cranes Below. Central Valley, California. February 26, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late winter flocks of Ross’ and other geese and lesser sandhill cranes in the San Joaquin Valley

Although it isn’t quite over yet, as the first day of spring approaches I have been thinking back over this winter season and especially the experiences of again photographing Central Valley migratory birds. There is far too much write about all of it in a single post, so I’ll just share a bit about the transitions and process of the season, at least as I observed it.

In the early fall I begin to look forward to this season of birds and fog and winter light, though the anticipation is tempered a bit by early season opportunities to photograph other subjects, especially the fall colors of the Sierra and elsewhere. But sometime in late October I start to think a lot about the great annual migration, and I start to watch for signs that it is beginning. This past year I think it was probably late November or early December when I made my first trip, and I recall enjoying the landscape once again but being disappointed that the birds hadn’t really shown up yet. After four years of drought I wondered if the bird population had been damaged. Then a bit later in September I began to see a few more geese, but they were not very plentiful and they were not always where I hoped to find them. It wasn’t until January that they began to be a bit more common, but soon the numbers increased and by February I was seeing absolutely huge numbers. By the time I made this photograph in late February I was frequently seeing tens of thousands of geese, along with many hundreds of perhaps thousands of cranes — which is exactly what we see in 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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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