Tag Archives: ross’s

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

Ross’s Geese Fill the Sky

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Ross's Geese Fill the Sky - A large flock of Ross's geese fill the dusk sky during the fly-in, San Joaquin Valley, California
A large flock of Ross’s geese fill the dusk sky during the fly-in, San Joaquin Valley, California

Ross’s Geese Fill the Sky. San Joaquin Valley, California. November 25, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large flock of Ross’s geese fill the dusk sky during the fly-in, San Joaquin Valley, California

I photographed these birds on my first visit of the season to the San Joaquin Valley wildlife refuges… on a “wild goose chase” to find the Ross’s geese and other migratory birds out there. I spent the entire day in the general area, starting and ending at this refuge since it seems to be one of the more reliable locations in this area for finding the geese.

When I returned in the early evening it was perhaps an hour before sunset. I did a slow drive around the refuge, looking for geese. I saw a few, but they were mostly a bit too far away and out in the marshes where I would not really be able to photograph them. However, as I continued to look, I began to see the first hints of the evening fly-in across on the far side of the refuge, where groups of geese were flying over and an occasional flock would rise and circle for a minute or two. I headed over that direction to find a very large flock in a pasture area not far from the road. As I watched, they rose up in masse, circled the refuge, and then landed more or less where they had started. This is behavior that I recognize from previous visits, and I knew there was a very good chance that they would do it more than once, so I put a long lens on the camera and got out my tripod. (I might shoot birds handheld during the day, but in the evening when the light dims I prefer to use the tripod.) Sure enough, the flock soon lifted off again, once more circling the wider expanse of the refuge, and filling the dusk sky as they came close to my position.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email 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: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Migration

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Migration
Migration

Migration. San Joaquin Valley, California. March 9, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ross’s geese fly across a cloud-filled late winter sky, San Joaquin Valley

By all of the usual standards, this was a spectacularly beautiful weekend here in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. Yesterday the temperature reached into the low seventy-degree range as I drove up US-5 from one photography location to another. People were wearing shorts. Daylight savings time began today (and I’ll complain about that elsewhere! ;-) and the light feels like it lasts an hour longer. The weeds are coming up in our garden, but that means that we’ll have a vegetable garden again before long.

I imagine that anyone reading this who lives in a place with real winter won’t understand this, but I have mixed feelings about the end of winter. I’m much more interested in the extremes of winter weather, and every spring I realize that it will likely be months until I again see 30+ foot waves along the Pacific coast, new snow in the Sierra, a good rain storm, or the arrival of migratory birds in the Central Valley. The main purpose of this weekend’s drive around the San Joaquin Valley, the lower Sacramento Valley, and areas of the delta was to visit those birds one more time before the marshes dry up and the birds head back to the north. I made this photograph in the morning when, to my surprise, what started out looking like a clear spring-like day turned foggy and more like winter. The birds were still there – and in large numbers in many places – and at one point lines of them flew in front of this cloud for several minutes.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Approaching Geese, Evening

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Approaching Geese, Evening
Approaching Geese, Evening

Approaching Geese, Evening. Central Valley, California. December 11, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ross’s geese approach their evening landing spot on a hazy late-autumn evening in California’s Central Valley.

This is yet another photograph of Ross’s geese from our December 2012 trek to the migratory bird areas of California’s Central Valley. We saw nearly all of the possible seasonal weather types on this day, save actual rain (that held off for another day) and clear, unfiltered sunlight. But other than that the day transitioned from so-thick-you-can-barely-drive tule fog, to clearing and drifting fog, to fog burning off, to brilliantly luminous winter haze, to dull and gray light as the first clouds of an incoming storm began to arrive, to the finale of a suddenly and unexpectedly colorful sunset.

After a mid-afternoon break to grab a bit to eat, we returned to this wildlife refuge in hopes of photographing the fly-in. Indeed, there were many thousands of Ross’s geese around, settled into pastures and occasionally lifting off to circle the area and then land again. But the light became increasingly dull as the first clouds of an approaching Pacific winter weather system arrived in the west. I made this photograph in what was, in many ways, rather gloomy light, though it is apparent that the sky is just beginning to pick up a hint of the pink that soon developed into a downright amazingly intense sunset. At this particular point in the evening I had positioned myself beyond the end of a large flock that stretched from nearly my position to the line of trees seen in the distance. It seemed that many of the geese were starting to move from the far end of the flock to closer to my position, so I was a in a good spot to photograph them straight on as they approached, and I had managed to position the slightly darker trees behind them, allowing their lighter bodies to stand out a bit. This group was just about to set down not far in front of me.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Central Valley, Winter Dusk

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Central Valley, Winter Dusk
Central Valley, Winter Dusk

Central Valley, Winter Dusk. Merced National Wildlife Refuge, California. December 11, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A line of geese fly in front of the first clouds of an approaching winter storm front above California’s Central Valley.

This photograph was made at a late enough time in the evening that it was becoming hard to see in the same detail that the camera has. The sun had gone down and the light reflected up into the clouds was beginning to fade, and Central Valley haze filled the air, partially obscuring the details on anything more than a few hundred feet away.

We were surprised and pleased to have a spectacular sunset as the clouds of an incoming weather system that had early blocked the light were now lit up from below as the sun dropped to the horizon. The intense colors of the red clouds were almost too bright to photograph. Here I used a long lens to isolate a small section of the terrain to the west that held a group of silhouetted trees, with the Coast Range mountains beyond, and the sky turning all shades of purple, orange, and red. Although it may be difficult to see in this small jpg, a long line of geese is traveling from right to left high in the sky.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.