Tag Archives: sky

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

The Wetlands, Late Winter

March 7, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

San Joaquin Valley wetlands on a late winter morning

About a week ago we headed off to Yosemite Valley for a few days, primarily to attend the opening reception of the 30th annual Yosemite Renaissance Exhibit in The Valley, but also to spend some time there in what we hoped might be interesting and possibly snowy conditions. Given the way this year has gone, it shouldn’t be surprising that the hopes of snow were not met — though there was a five-minute flurry in the morning in the Valley and we found a few inches of new snow by climbing up out of the Valley. But “there is always something to see,” and there was no shortage of other things to photograph.

On our way to the Valley from the San Francisco Bay Area we made a short morning stop at a favorite migratory bird hangout. Typically we arrive here by dawn and encounter thick tule fog. This morning was different and more spring-like with sun and a few puffy clouds overhead. While it seems wrong to see this weather in what should be winter, it still was beautiful, and I made this simple photograph of a quite wetlands marsh where I more typically photograph in fog very early in the morning.

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

Ross’s Geese, Clouds

March 6, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of Ross’s geese against a clearing winter sky above the San Joaquin Valley.

On a late-winter afternoon we visited one of the places where we frequently photograph migratory birds in the San Joaquin Valley of California. We had been in Yosemite for a few days, and we arranged our departure from there so that we would have time for this stop on the way home to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Perhaps it is due to the unusual winter we are having in the West this year, but the numbers of birds had declined considerably since our previous visit a few weeks earlier. We were surprised to see almost no sandhill cranes at all. There were Ross’s geese, but in smaller number. We found one decent sized group settled in on a pond, and shortly after we arrived they began to depart in small groups like this one, passing in front of the clouds from a dissipating storm as they headed toward the west.

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.

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

Geese in Blue Sky

February 20, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thousands of Ross’s Geese in the San Joaquin Valley winter sky

And, yes, another photograph of thousands of geese wheeling overhead in the San Joaquin Valley sky. They tend to do that this time of year. The cause of this eruption of geese was a bit different from the usual. Typically, when they are flocking in pastures and similar areas, something sets them off — a predator, a low flying plane, who knows what else — and an entire flock will suddenly take to the air en masse, in a maelstrom of flapping wings and noise. We had stopped near a large group in a field, from which smaller groups were constantly coming and going, when another vehicle pulled up behind us. Out hopped a half-dozen young girls who proceed to run down the road, setting of the geese. (For the record, you aren’t supposed to do this. They are young. They will learn. :-)

Because the flock was so close, the first photographs I made mostly featured close up walls of geese. But eventually they widened the circle of their flight, looping round beyond this little brushy grove out in the flatlands. I zoomed out to see if I could get a larger view, and although I was shooting a 100-400mm lens, 100mm was “wide” enough to take in thousands of geese, the landscape, and the gradient of color in the sky as it transitioned from the lighter colors of the foggy atmosphere near the ground to the deeper blue of winter sky far above.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sky

The Wetlands, Late Winter

Ross’s Geese, Clouds

Sunset Sky, Trees

Geese in Blue Sky

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