Tag Archives: san joaquin

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

Sunset Sky, Trees

March 5, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter sunset sky above San Joaquin Valley trees

After a weekend photographing (and socializing!) in Yosemite Valley we headed back toward the San Francisco Bay Area, leaving the Valley early enough to make a stop along the way at one of our favorite bird locations. We arrived in the late afternoon and found a medium size group of Ross’s geese on a pond, but too far from us to photograph them effectively. What’s more, as we watched they began to leave, and before long there were few left at all. However, off in the distance I thought I saw groups of them beginning to land in a pasture next to a roadway that would provide access, so off we went to check this out.

There was a decent sized flock there, but they also moved off from our position and were just a bit too far away for great photography. We waited for a while, hoping that they might move back our way, but it never happened. However, the sky compensated a bit — just after the sun set a beautiful, colorful glow appeared in the western sky and I photographed the effect above a row of trees that I’ve had my eyes on for some time.

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, Photographs: Wildlife

Black-Necked Stilt

March 1, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A single black-necked stilt works it way across a shallow pond.

This is a fairly simply little picture with a simple story. We arrived early at this refuge on this mid-February day. It began with thick tule fog, but before long the fog began to thin and the blue of the sky reflected on the surface of this shallow wetland pond. There were quite a few birds here — the usual geese and sandhill cranes flying by overhead, night herons in the brush on the other side of the water, avocets, and a few of these wonderful black-necked stilts, with the long and strikingly red legs.

Mostly the birds worked their way among grasses and water plants, but for a moment this one moved into an area of water colored by blue reflected light from the clearing sky, leaving a wake in its path. I decided to compose the photograph with the bird near the top of the frame to suggest its distance and to let the large, uninterrupted foreground suggest that large surface area of the pond.

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

Cranes and Geese, Winter Fog

February 27, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A foggy San Joaquin Valley winter landscape filled with geese and cranes

This photograph comes for exactly two weeks ago, when we took a detour through a favorite migratory bird area on our way to Yosemite for the opening reception of a show. Driving into the San Joaquin from the west it looked like most of the fog was gone — and I wanted fog! — but we took a chance and headed out into this area, which seems to be one of the most consistently foggy around. And luck was with us — we drove into the tule fog just before out goal. And when we arrived we found stupendous conditions of fog and birds.

A very large bunch of birds had settled in on a recently cleared field this is very close to the access road. Among there were a few egrets, more white-fronted geese, yet more sandhill cranes (as many as I’ve seen here at one time), and then thousands and thousands of Ross’s geese. Within minutes the fog began to thin and areas of light began to move among the birds. The birds were in constant motion, with one or another group taking of at every moment. At times something would cause them to go on alert (note the heads held straight up) and then, quite often, to suddenly take to the air in wild, flapping clouds of birds.

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

Wetlands, Winter Fog

February 26, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Wetlands with thick early morning tule fog, San Joaquin Valley, California

The initial draw of this area of the San Joaquin Valley, with its wetlands and winter tule fog, was birds — the many thousands of seasonal migratory birds including geese, sandhill cranes, and ibises along with egrets, herons, pelicans, owls, hawks, an occasional eagle, and more. During winter, this agricultural area is given over almost completely to the is wildlife — something that I did not know for many years, despite living in California almost my entire life. However, the more I’ve photographed out here, the more my interest has evolved beyond just the birds to include the landscape itself, and especially the foggy landscape.

It is hard to describe the experience of being here in winter to a person who doesn’t share the experience. Frankly, the terrain is easily dismissed as the sort of thing you would drive through or past on your way to some place more interesting. That was certainly my notion, as I passed though here for years on my way to and from the Sierra. But out here on a cold, foggy and still winter morning, when your world closes down to perhaps a radius of a few hundred feet at best, and the sounds of birds come through the fog from all directions, this becomes a very special kind of place unlike any other that I know in this state.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: san joaquin

Sunset Sky, Trees

Black-Necked Stilt

Cranes and Geese, Winter Fog

Wetlands, Winter Fog

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.