Tag Archives: season

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

White Pelicans and Geese

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White Pelicans and Geese
White pelicans and geese in the winter landscape of California’s Central Valley.

White Pelicans and Geese. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

White pelicans and geese in the winter landscape of California’s Central Valley.

This flock of white pelicans almost seems like family now — since the beginning of this season they have been hanging out in almost this exact spot every time I have visited. It used to be that I’d catch them in flight in the morning, but more recently they seem to stay right there almost the entire day. While the opportunities to photograph them flying over my position have been limited, this spot is close enough that I can photograph them on the ground… or, more accurately, on the muddy spot where they hang out in the middle of this pond.

The more distant birds are geese, almost certainly snow geese, though it is a bit difficult to make a 100% certain identification from this distance. Large groups of them were on the ground beyond the middle distance levee, and they were periodically taking off or being joined by new arrivals on this mostly-sunny morning.

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: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Blackbirds in Winter Sky

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Blackbirds in Winter Sky
A murmuration of redwing blackbirds above winter wetlands.

Blackbirds in Winter Sky. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A murmuration of redwing blackbirds above winter wetlands.

When I got to these places in the winter to photograph birds — and to experience the wetland winter landscape — I’m usually looking for larger birds. The geese first attracted me, and then I became fascinated with cranes, herons, ibises, pelicans, and more. At first I probably more or less ignored these flocks of small back birds that seemed to be everywhere. More recently, I’ve come to look forward to seeing them.

They are blackbirds, most likely red-winged blackbirds, but also possibly tri-color blackbirds. To my eye the differences are subtle unless I get close enough to see the definite patch on the wings — red in one case, red and white in the other. (And, occasionally, apparently to confound me, I spot odd things such as yellow bands…) These are flocking birds, virtually always seen in groups, and they fly together, sometimes creating murmurations, flocks of closely-spaced birds that shift and reform in flight. Beyond their visual appearance, the sound they make seems utterly joyous, and there are few things quite like being next to a few hundred of them in full song.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spring Flow

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Spring Flow
“Spring Flow” — Rushing spring water and reflections, Merced River.

For a place made of stone, the Sierra Nevada can be a surprising transitory subject. Summer is brief, and wildflowers bloom and are soon gone. Color comes to aspens in the fall and is gone weeks later. Spring is the time of rushing water in the Sierra, from the high country to the lowlands. The water rises as the snow melts, creeks and rivers fill to their banks, and waterfalls appear. I photographed this minor torrent along the Merced River as it passes through Yosemite Valley.

Every landscape photographer I know has tried his or her hand at photographing the moving water this way. No matter what other marvelous landscape features are around, eventually we come back to the water and try to do something with the ever-changing colors and shapes of water. This is that “what the camera sees” sorts of photography, since our eyes cannot see the river this way, and these shapes and colors change too quickly without the camera to grab and hold them.

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

Flock of Cranes, Tule Fog

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Flock of Cranes, Tule Fog
A flock of lesser sandhill cranes reflected in a pond on a winter morning of tule fog.

Flock of Cranes, Tule Fog. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of lesser sandhill cranes reflected in a pond on a winter morning of tule fog.

This photograph comes from late last year, a few days before Christmas, when I spent a day photographing birds in the Central Valley of California. I picked a particularly lonely day — a good thing right now! — and arrived well before dawn after driving through thick tule fog. When I arrived in the first faint light I could hear birds but I certainly could not see them. I set out to see if I could find any that were close enough to be visible in the fog, and eventually I came upon a very large group of lesser sandhill cranes that had settled in and around this pond.

On most mornings the cranes tend to depart as soon as the sun rises, but perhaps the thick fog persuaded them to stick around a bit longer. In any case, although it was well after sunrise by this point, a very large group of cranes seemed to be feeding and generally milling about slowly. At one point this group seemed to adopt a common goal of walking across the scene from right to left, and I was able to photograph them lined up and facing the same direction.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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