Tag Archives: santa clara

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

Female Redwing Blackbird

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Female Redwing Blackbird

Female Redwing Blackbird. Calero Hills, California. April 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A female redwing blackbird perches among reeds on a foggy morning at Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California.

At this point I almost feel like I know these birds personally. I photograph and hike at this location (Calero County Park) almost every week throughout the year, and every hike begins at a trailhead that takes me right past Castillero Pond which is often crowded with birds – the occasional egret but almost always many redwing blackbirds.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: bird, avian, redwing, blackbird, bird, female, perch, branch, reed, grass, pond, morning, fog, cloud, castillero, calero, hills, county, park, santa clara, california, usa, wildlife, nature, spring, foggy, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Chinese Houses Flowers

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Chinese Houses Flowers

Chinese Houses Flowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of Chinese houses spring wildflowers growing alongside the New Almaden trail.

I also made this photograph along a nearby hiking trail at Almaden Quicksilver Park in Santa Clara County, California – in fact it was shot within a couple of minutes and perhaps 100 yards of the Sticky Monkeyflower photograph I posted yesterday. These flowers can be found all over the place in my part of Central California this time of year. To me they can be a bit tricky to photograph – sometimes some of the blossoms may be perfect while others have passed their prime, and they often grow in sunny areas against complex backdrops of foliage. Shooting flowers that include the color white in direct sunlight is really tricky – I hope for a bit of shade or some overcast – and shooting at anything but the largest apertures risks loosing the flower against background, yet shooting at these large apertures it can be tricky to get the whole flower head in focus.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: flower, wildflower, chinese, lantern, plant, foliage, spring, seaons, green, new, growth, bokeh, green, nature, leaf, santa clara, county, almaden, quicksilver, park, morning, spring, season, san jose, santa clare, county, stock, Collinsia heterophylla

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Sticky Monkeyflower

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Sticky Monkeyflower

Sticky Monkeyflower. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring sticky monkey flower blooms at Almaden Quicksilver Park, Santa Clara County, California.

This is a very common springtime flower in the hills of central California – it is one of the first flowers that I recall learning to recognize when I was a kid. (Something about that name must have caught my attention.) These were photographed along one of my favorite trails at the Almaden Quicksilver Park in the south San Jose area of Santa Clara County.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: sticky, monkey, flower, Mimulus aurantiacus, Diplacus aurantiacus, bush, island, blossom, wildflower, plant, foliage, leaf, green, orange, bokeh, almaden, quicksilver, santa clara, county, park, mines, california, usa, san jose, spring, nature, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Oaks, Hills, Clearing Morning Fog

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Oaks, Hills, Clearing Morning Fog

Oaks, Hills, Clearing Morning Fog. Calero Hills, California. April 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog clears over oak dotted green and golden Calero Hills, California.

On this mid-April spring morning I had perhaps a half hour of what is almost my favorite type of light – the kind that forms along the border between cloud and sun as morning fog begins to clear. I had started out this hike in gray fog, but as I reached the top of a small hill the fog began to burn off… and I photographed like crazy as different portions of my surroundings were revealed and illuminated. On a technical note, this is another of my atypical telephoto landscapes, shot with a 400mm lens.

One more note about fog. Not only is it interesting in its own right, but sometimes it lines up just right to obscure things that would make a photograph of the scene less effective while showing elements that work well. That was the case here. The very faint suggestion of more distant hills at the far right is all that we can see in the fog – but once it cleared there was instead a rather stark ridgeline that held a power pole or two!

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: oak, tree, grove, grass, meadow, hill, valley, green, gold, morning, spring, calero, county park, calero, santa clara, landscape, nature, scenic, shadow, light, sun, california, usa, field, stock