Tag Archives: ross’s

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

Departure

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Departure
waves of Ross’s geese lift off into foggy early morning winter sky

Departure. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Waves of geese lift off into foggy early morning winter sky

There are many ways in which geese may depart, and almost any time I watch them I think about when and how they will leave. They might leave one or two at a time, perhaps circling around and returning, or possibly simply flying a short distance to a more interesting spot nearby. They might begin a mass departure by leaving in small groups of perhaps a half-dozen or a few more. The geese in this photograph were leaving in what might be described as waves — groups of perhaps a dozen or two lifting off at once and forming into lines as they headed to the north. There is also that most spectacular event, when many thousands of them erupt into the air simultaneously, with a shocking sound of thousands of wings along with their cries.

On this winter morning we arrived before dawn, as always, and watched as ground fog formed over the wetlands. We did not find the spectacularly large flocks that we sometimes see but there were groups still settled into ponds. As the first light arrived they began to fly away, first a few, then larger groups, until very soon all of them had 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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

On Alert

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On Alert
A flock of Ross’s geese raises their heads in response to a distraction

On Alert. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of geese raises their heads in response to a distraction

We started 2018 with a New Year’s Day visit to wetlands to photograph migratory birds and engage in a few other fun activities. Among these were: arising hours before dawn, driving long distances in pre-dawn darkness, sharing a champagne toast to the New Year well before noon, and much more. To be honest, I’ve had been photography days out there at this time of year… but I haven’t had a better time.

This photograph shows a behavior that I’ve learned to watch for when photographing geese. Much of the time when they are settled in they are fairly passive, perhaps with their heads down to feed. But when anything worthy of attention happens — a raptor flies over, a plane passes by too low, someone gets too close or starts a vehicle engine — the flock’s sound changes and all of the heads rise with necks vertical. If the threat passes or is deemed unimportant the heads quickly drop. But if it is seen as serious, this might be an indication that the entire flock is about to dramatically take flight.

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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Commentary

Geese, Tule Fog, Autumn Trees

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Geese, Tule Fog, Autumn Trees
Migratory snow geese and Ross’s geese in a pond on a foggy San Joaquin Valley morning

Geese, Tule Fog, Autumn Trees. San Joaquin Valley, California. December 1, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Migratory snow geese and Ross’s geese in a pond on a foggy San Joaquin Valley morning

Since it was December 1, it seemed like time to start my annual series of visits to California’s Great Central Valley to photograph migratory birds and the landscape of the place. (Actually, I had made one preliminary and very quick visit about a month earlier, but too early for the birds shown in this photograph.) There is a ritual about these visits which, for me, are typically one-day affairs that start very early and end rather late, with a fair amount of driving involved. Up well before dawn, I drive a couple of hours in darkness and often fog, arriving perhaps a half hour before dawn to the stirring sound of many thousands of birds, already awake at morning twilight. I photograph intensively for at least a few hours before taking, at last on most days, a midday break. By mid-afternoon I’m back at work again, photographing through the peak of the visual crescendo just before sunset and then continuing for perhaps another half hour or so until the light is gone. I pack, get into my vehicle, and retrace my two-hour drive back home. (At least the shorter daylight hours of this season allow me to get up a little bit “later” — if you consider 3:45 or 4:00 AM later — and return home in time for a late dinner.)

On this first day of December it was incredibly foggy when I arrived — so much so that it was really hard to make photographs. I usually enjoy photographing in the fog, but this was so thick that almost no sunrise light managed to color the gloom. But before long the light began to come through the fog and eventually I found a moderately large group of white geese settled in on a pond. Among them I saw Ross’s and snow geese, and beyond them there were trees with fall foliage.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Ross’s Geese, Evening Sky

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Ross's Geese, Evening Sky
Ross’s Geese, Evening Sky

Ross’s Geese, Evening Sky. San Joaquin Valley, California. March 1, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of Ross’s geese head west against the clouds of a winter evening sky

This may well end up being one of my final migratory bird photographs of the 2014-15 season. It seemed to wind down early this year, at least from what I saw. I suspect that this probably has something to do with the very unusual weather this winter in California. The temperatures were far above normal. In some places there averaged ten degrees higher than usual during the first three months of the year. Precipitation has also been way out of whack. There were some early indications of a possible wet year, then things seemed to be put on hold… until some serious rain (at my elevation) in December, which brought back memories of what winter used to be like in California. Then the tap seemed to be shut off with the new year, and where I live we went nearly 50 days with no rainfall whatsoever at what should be the wettest time of the year. It finally rained again, but not much. More troubling, the Sierra experience roughly 10% of typical precipitation levels, and this is the fourth year of below normal precipitation.

Despite the climate challenges, the season did produce some truly wonderful days of bird photography in the Central Valley. One thing that helped was a long period of tule fog in the Valley, which I find picturesque. Eventually the birds showed up, and we had a great stretch of geese and cranes and more up through the middle of February. At the end of the month we headed to the Sierra for an exhibit at the Yosemite Renaissance, stopping on the way to visit the birds. We didn’t see many at all, and when we stopped again on the way back things hadn’t changed much. Late in the day we did find a group of Ross’s geese on a pond, and I caught groups of them as they departed to the south and west.

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.
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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.