Tag Archives: san joaquin

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Plant, Reflections

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Autumn Plant, Reflections
An autumn plant silhouetted against the surface of a shallow Central Valley pond.

Autumn Plant, Reflections. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An autumn plant silhouetted against the surface of a shallow Central Valley pond.

In another recent post I noted that this is the season when I like to spend a lot of time in California’s Great Central Valley photographing birds, many of which are migratory visitors to the state and only remain for a few months. But the complete story is a bit more complicated. Yes, the birds do attract me to these locations. But the locations themselves and their potential as landscape subjects are equally compelling. (I sometimes describe what I do out there as not being precisely “bird photography” or “landscape photography,” but something that often feels more like “birdscape photography.”

I fill out another detail of that “complete story,” too. Sometimes the birds don’t show up, or they are there but too far away or in small numbers, or the light simply isn’t great for photographing them. This is often my cue to pivot to pure landscape photography, and in this region of fog, water, and sometimes an expansive sky, that can be a pretty interesting subject, too. On this visit the birds were few and far between — not a real surprise during an early-December visit on a gray day. By mid-morning I turned my attention to the landscape and was intrigued by the many plants at the water’s edge. In retrospect, the shape of this one and its adornment with what might be remind one of ornaments suggested a Christmas tree.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Great Blue Heron, Reflection

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Great Blue Heron, Reflection
A great blue heron on the hunt in a Central Valley pond.

Great Blue Heron, Reflection. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A great blue heron on the hunt in a Central Valley pond.

This photograph of a great blue heron comes from this season’s first visit to California’s Central Valley to photograph migratory and other birds. Such visits become a main part of my photography between December and March. The trigger for this early December trek to the Valley was a forecast of fog — and I love foggy days out in the Valley. (On the other hand, I sympathize with locals who get a bit tired of the tule fog when it sticks around for days or weeks.) While the bird populations weren’t exactly overwhelming on this visit — and the great light never quite arrived — it was great to be back in the field on this visit marking the start of a new season.

There is a tremendous variety of birds to photograph in this area. The large flocks of geese and cranes are an obvious attraction, but others have started to grow on me — the redwing and tricolor blackbirds, egrets, ibises, lots of LBBs (little brown birds) and these large and magnificent great blue herons. I almost always encounter them as solitary individuals — thought, oddly, it isn’t unusual to find them in the company of a solitary egret. That was the case with this one. It and its egret companion were busy hunting in the shallow waters of a pond. I stopped and remained in my vehicle to avoid scaring the birds, and eventually they moved quite close to me.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Water Plants

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Water Plants
Water plants and their reflections on a foggy late-winter day in California’s Central Valley.

Water Plants. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water plants and their reflections on a foggy late-winter day in California’s Central Valley.

During the first week of December I finally made my first trip of the season to my favorite bird photography area in Central California. In autumn, all up and down the state, we start to see the arrival of the winter migratory birds, and I’ve become addicted to photographing them and the landscapes in which they appear. I would have gone a bit earlier this year, but I was waiting for the right combination of fog and driving conditions. Yes, I WANT fog. But, no, I don’t want it so thick that dangerous driving conditions are an impediment.

From my perspective, the best bird photograph days in these places start with fog that begins to thin by mid- to late-morning, allowing some filtered, directional light to appear. This was not that kind of day. It ended up being uniformly gray. There were interesting birds around, but not in the numbers that we’ll likely see later. For these and other reasons, by mid-morning I turned my attention mostly away from the birds and towards the landscape. During the early season, as the shallow ponds begin to refill, there is more of a feeling of autumn than winter, and lots of interesting plants still stand in the water. The plants in this picture might be of limited interest — they certainly are not prominent landscape features — but their reflections caught my attention.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

Pas de Deux #1

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Pas de Deux
“Pas de Deux #1” — A pair of sandhill cranes performing “the dance.”

Sandhill cranes have become perhaps my favorite bird subject. These large and ancient birds behave in ways that fascinate me more and more over time. (Their distinctive call is the first thing I listen for when I arrive at my favorite bird photography locations.) Geese that first drew me to photographing birds, but the more time I spent in the field the more the cranes attracted me. (Perhaps the earliest push in this direction came years ago, long before I had even seen a Sandhill crane, when I read about them in the writings of Aldo Leopold.)

It is a constant challenge to try to figure out their behavior and its logic. For example, even though I’ve spent a lot of time watching them around sunrise, when they generally fly out for the day, almost every lift-off comes as a surprise. I learned to be strategic about where I placed myself when photographing birds. After watching groups of cranes fly successively over a particular spot, I would move quietly to that location and wait… at which point they would all avoid that location, sometimes diverting the place I had just left! The “crane dance” seen here also seems to be a bit of a mystery — and not just to me. From what I read, while there is a courtship angle to the behavior, that may not be its only context.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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