Tag Archives: skagit

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Wildlife

Two Trumpeter Swans in Flight

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Two Trumpeter Swans in Flight
Two Trumpeter Swans in Flight

Two Trumpeter Swans in Flight. Skagit Valley, Washington. December 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pair of trumpeter swans in flight above Skagit Valley farmland on a cloudy and rainy day, Washington

I had about four or five hours in the Skagit Valley area of Washington in the beginning of December, after the tasks I had gone to Washington for were completed early. I drove up from the Seattle area in the rain, and it was still cloudy, windy, and rainy when I arrived – just what one might expect in December in the Pacific Northwest! The last time I had been there, a year ago, I had encountered amazing flocks of snow geese in a field near the road not far from where it rises to cross the river, and my first thought was that I’d see if this was a regular event or if I had just been lucky the previous year. I must have been lucky! This time there was not a goose to be seen, at least at first, at this location.

Given this development, I decided to poke around on some back roads in the area and see if I could get close enough to trumpeter swans to photograph them with my meager little 200mm focal length lens – about half the length of what I would usually use for this sort of subject. By moving carefully, using my car as a blind, and sitting quietly and waiting, I was able to get a few close shots of the swans in a field. I soon figured out that they would occasionally lift off and fly to another nearby field where there were other swans, so I positioned myself (in the car) between the two flocks and settled in to see what would happen. Sure enough, before long groups of two or more swans started to fly my direction and pass close to the car, usually rising a bit as they passed over. This pair made a bit of a turn around me, so I photographed them against the cloud-filled sky.

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.

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Wildlife

Trumpeter Swans and Clouds

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Trumpeter Swans and Clouds Trumpeter Swans and Clouds
Trumpeter Swans and Clouds Trumpeter Swans and Clouds

Trumpeter Swans and Clouds. Skagit Valley, Washington. December 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Four trumpeter swans on a raining day in Skagit Valley, Washington

I visited the Seattle area in early December for mostly non-photographic purposes, but found myself with with an open schedule on the day when my departing flight was not scheduled to leave until evening. I wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to do some photography, so I considered street photography in downtown Seattle (plus a museum visit). Then I remembered that I had shot in Skagit Valley last year at roughly the same time and had found lots of interesting birds to photograph – trumpeter swans, eagles, snow geese, and more.

On this trip I wasn’t exactly equipped for bird photography, at least not the sort I would usually do, but I did have a 70-200mm zoom and I know it is possible to make interesting bird photographs with such a lens. So I was up fairly early for the one hour drive north. It rained off and on during my drive, and it was still mostly cloudy and gray when I arrived to find trumpeter swans in their usual spots on the winter fields. (Later I would also find some snow geese, but I’ll save that story for now.) Typically, I would photograph this subject with my 100-400mm zoom, but having nothing longer than 200mm in my bag, I had to think a bit differently about how to photograph these birds. Several strategies worked. One was to use my rental car as a “blind” and slowly and carefully position myself where they might be close enough to photograph with that lens. Another approach was to basically shoot landscape, but include the birds in the scene. The third option, used in this photograph, was to find a spot along one of the country roads where the birds were likely to pass directly overhead or nearly so and wait. These birds have a style of flight that somehow reminds me of a very large jetliner. The use a very low angle take-off, seeming almost as if they are too massive to climb much faster. But once in flight they are beautiful and graceful with their long necks and generally smooth mode of flight. In this photograph I watched as they passed in front of darker rain clouds before making the exposure, isolating the birds against the clouds and with no frame of reference on the ground.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Wildlife

Trumpeter Swans, Field

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Trumpeter Swans, Field - A small group of trumpeter swans on a misty day in a Skagit Valley field, Washington
A small group of trumpeter swans on a misty day in a Skagit Valley field, Washington

Trumpeter Swans, Field. Skagit Valley, Washington. December 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small group of trumpeter swans on a misty day in a Skagit Valley field, Washington

Finding myself in a wonderful place to photograph birds, but without the (rather long!) lens I would usually rely on, I had to think differently about how to photograph the migratory birds of Skagit Valley, Washington earlier this week. I was in Washington for something else entirely, but had brought along a minimal kit “just in case…” but wasn’t really thinking that bird photography might be on the agenda until plans changed and I found myself with nearly a full day free. So despite having nothing longer than 200mm, I decided to drive up there from Seattle and see what I could find.

Among the locals, I hear that the area is especially renowned for eagles – which I saw and (barely) photographed a year ago. But I’m also, and perhaps predominantly, fascinated by the snow geese and the trumpeter swans. The geese remind me of the very similar Ross’s geese that I photograph in California, but the trumpeter swans are birds that I don’t really get to see at home. While the geese collect in huge flocks of many thousands of birds, creating an audio uproar that must be heard to be believed, the swans don’t seem to be such social creatures nor nearly as noisy. When I’ve seen them, they collect in small groups, sometimes very small or perhaps including a few dozen individuals. They seem to assemble quietly – apart from the occasional “trumpeting” – and don’t do anything like the swirling, flocking behavior of the geese. Instead, even so often a couple of them will lift off – taking a long, shallow trajectory like an overloaded airliner lifting off – and then fly at low levels across fields.

Having only my “short” 200mm telephoto, it proved nearly impossible to photograph them in the usual bird photography style – trying to come as close as possible to filling the frame with a bird or two. Instead, I started by thinking about how I could incorporate the birds into the landscape. Here, near the end of an empty road, I turned onto an even emptier road and slowly drove up to where I was reasonably close to this group. I remained in the car, using it as my “blind” so as not to disturb the birds, and I sat quietly making a few photographs as they fed in the field. I decided to go with an interpretation of the subject that did not attempt for anything like objective realism, instead trying to evoke the subjective aspects of these birds, caught in a momentary beam of sunlight against a misty and rainy sky and hills.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Wildlife

Trumpeter Swans, Trees

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Trumpeter Swans, Trees - Two trumpeter swans fly through trees along the edge of the Skagit River, Washington
Two trumpeter swans fly through trees along the edge of the Skagit River, Washington

Trumpeter Swans, Trees. Skagit Valley, Washington. December 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two trumpeter swans fly thorugh trees along the edge of the Skagit River, Washington

I was in the Seattle area over the past few day, taking care of some business, but I unexpectedly found myself with a free day on Monday – planned activities were cancelled, flight didn’t leave until Monday night. Fortunately, there is no shortage of things to see and do in that part of the Pacific Northwest, at least if you don’t mind clouds and rain – and I don’t. So I headed up to Skagit Valley, which I had visited once previously, when I spent a day photographing migratory birds there last winter.

I figured I might again see trumpeter swans and snow geese, and I was not disappointed. There were fewer geese this year – though one spectacular flock – but more trumpeter swans. Since this trip had not been primarily about photography, I did not bring the gear I would usually use for photographing these birds, and the longest lens I had was a 70-200mm zoom. This meant that I could not photograph the birds from any appreciable distance, though I was on the lookout for large flocks that might let me do this. (That didn’t quite happen.) So I had to adopt a different approach. As I watched the swans, I figured out that hardly more than a few minutes would go by before one or two or perhaps a few more would make their long, shallow take-off and then fly at a low elevation to another likely spot. So I moved into some likely spots and shot from inside the car so as to make myself a bit less visible. Eventually a few of the birds flew almost directly over the car, or at least passed near by. These two were flying along a row of trees on the bank of the Skagit River.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.