Tag Archives: sky

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Ross’s Geese In Flight

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Three Ross's Geese In Flight
Three Ross’s Geese in flight against cloudy winter sky

Three Ross’s Geese In Flight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three Ross’s Geese in flight against cloudy winter sky

Quite a few years ago, the first migratory birds that caught my interest in the wild were geese. I specifically recall the occasion or, more correctly, two occasions. (They may or may not have occurred on the same trip — I no longer recall for sure.) The first was on the long drive north from the San Francisco Bay Area. I had departed late in the day, planning to get a motel in the southern Oregon and then complete the drive the next day. Far up the Sacramento Valley at sunset and then on into dusk I began to see huge flocks of the birds over this agricultural landscape. I really didn’t understand what I was seeing, but I was impressed and it planted a seed.

Then, perhaps on the same trip or possibly on another Seattle visit at about this time, I drove up to the Skagit Valley area. As I drove I saw the remarkable trumpeter swans that are found there, and eventually I pulled over on a curve near some old buildings by fields. Far off in the distant sky I started to see strings of birds, and a few minutes later snow geese began landing right next to me… and they kept coming, until the entire field was filled with the white birds. You can imagine how impressed I was — I had not seen something like this before! I made the photograph shared here much later and in a different place.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Toward Morning Light

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Toward Morning Light
A flock of sandhill cranes flies toward the morning light

Toward Morning Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes flies toward the morning light

This group of sandhill cranes was flying almost into the early morning sun — it was actually just enough to one side to illuminate the side of the birds that was facing me. As the cranes came toward my position I was ready, and I tracked them as they crossed from left to right, repositioning themselves as they passed by.

Sandhill cranes hold a special place for me, and they did even before I had seen or heard them. Many years ago as  college student, an enlightened science professor assigned us to read sections of Aldo Leopold’s “Sand County Almanac.” Leopold was completely new to me at the time — my vocabulary of “nature” writers was more orientated to the Sierra Nevada. But his descriptions of the cranes and the experience of seeing them stuck with me, and perhaps made the experience more magical when I finally saw them many years later.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

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

Cranes in Morning Sky

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Cranes in Morning Sky
Sandhill cranes aloft in winter morning sky

Cranes in Morning Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sandhill cranes aloft in winter morning sky

Photography of migratory birds is often done at the edges of the day, starting before dawn and continuing well into the twilight hours. The birds are often there all day, but the light isn’t. (There are exceptions — for example, day-long tule fog or spectacular clouds.) So I spend a lot of time driving too and from locations in the darkness, and I usually arrive before dawn when there is perhaps just a hint of light in the sky.

While getting up at 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning for a long drive in the dark probably doesn’t sound that appealing — and, honestly, it isn’t! — there are certain compensations. Dawn is one of them, especially dawn experienced with the sounds of perhaps tens of thousands of birds awakening and getting ready to burst into the sky. One one of those mornings a flock of sandhill cranes flew overhead and crossed from cloudy skies to clear eastern pre-dawn sky.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dawn, Mono Lake and Sierra Crest

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Dawn, Mono Lake and Sierra Crest
Dawn light on the Sierra crest at South Tufa, Mono Lake

Dawn, Mono Lake and Sierra Crest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on the Sierra crest at South Tufa, Mono Lake

There is a bit of a story behind the choice to post this photograph today. And that story may help explain the posting of more than a few older photographs this month. Every December, like so many other photographers, I prepare a set of “favorite photographs” from the year that is about to conclude. (Something happened this past December and I was delayed in this process. One thing led to another and I never did post my annual set of favorites for 2017!) Part of my process for preparing the list of favorites is to go through ALL of my raw files from the year, and I often discover interesting work that I missed as I engage in this process. I didn’t do that either… so I’m now digging back into the older files to see what I missed. So expect a mixture of current and older work through August and possibly into early September.

To make things a bit more confusing, this photograph is even older! It comes from 2007. Once I get into this process of looking at old files, I never know where it will lead! I made the photograph on a lovely, quiet morning at Mono Lake, when the water was still and the first light was shining on the eastern Sierra Nevada.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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