Tag Archives: valley

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Water Plants

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Water Plants
Water plants and their reflections on a foggy late-winter day in California’s Central Valley.

Water Plants. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water plants and their reflections on a foggy late-winter day in California’s Central Valley.

During the first week of December I finally made my first trip of the season to my favorite bird photography area in Central California. In autumn, all up and down the state, we start to see the arrival of the winter migratory birds, and I’ve become addicted to photographing them and the landscapes in which they appear. I would have gone a bit earlier this year, but I was waiting for the right combination of fog and driving conditions. Yes, I WANT fog. But, no, I don’t want it so thick that dangerous driving conditions are an impediment.

From my perspective, the best bird photograph days in these places start with fog that begins to thin by mid- to late-morning, allowing some filtered, directional light to appear. This was not that kind of day. It ended up being uniformly gray. There were interesting birds around, but not in the numbers that we’ll likely see later. For these and other reasons, by mid-morning I turned my attention mostly away from the birds and towards the landscape. During the early season, as the shallow ponds begin to refill, there is more of a feeling of autumn than winter, and lots of interesting plants still stand in the water. The plants in this picture might be of limited interest — they certainly are not prominent landscape features — but their reflections caught my attention.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Five Sandhill Cranes

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Five Sandhill Cranes
A chorus of five sandhill cranes in California’s Central Valley.

Five Sandhill Cranes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A chorus of five sandhill cranes in California’s Central Valley.

I have seen a lot of sandhill cranes, but the group behavior seen here was new to me — the entire quintet raising their heads and displaying open beaks. I’m endlessly fascinated by the things that the birds and others do, and I’m often mystified by the purposes of these actions. In fairness, they may also be mystified by people showing up nearby, standing around with large metal and glass objects, and pointing them in their direction.

It is a bit unusual to get very close to sandhill cranes, at least in my experience. They have boundaries, and they are not amenable to having them crossed. I’ve mentioned previously that groups of them flying toward me will almost always divert to one side or the other rather than flying directly over head. When approached — which I always do in a non-aggressive manner, never getting very close — they seem fine up to a point. But once that point is reached, usually while I’m a good distance away, they are clearly uncomfortable with my presence and I don’t get closer. I’ve often had the best luck when photographing from a vehicle, especially when I can approach slowly and silently or, better yet, when I can park and wait for them. That’s what happened here — I was stopped along a rural roadway and they walked parallel to my position, perhaps more securely since my vehicle was on the opposite side of a berm from them.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Pas de Deux #1

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Pas de Deux
“Pas de Deux #1” — A pair of sandhill cranes performing “the dance.”

Sandhill cranes have become perhaps my favorite bird subject. These large and ancient birds behave in ways that fascinate me more and more over time. (Their distinctive call is the first thing I listen for when I arrive at my favorite bird photography locations.) Geese that first drew me to photographing birds, but the more time I spent in the field the more the cranes attracted me. (Perhaps the earliest push in this direction came years ago, long before I had even seen a Sandhill crane, when I read about them in the writings of Aldo Leopold.)

It is a constant challenge to try to figure out their behavior and its logic. For example, even though I’ve spent a lot of time watching them around sunrise, when they generally fly out for the day, almost every lift-off comes as a surprise. I learned to be strategic about where I placed myself when photographing birds. After watching groups of cranes fly successively over a particular spot, I would move quietly to that location and wait… at which point they would all avoid that location, sometimes diverting the place I had just left! The “crane dance” seen here also seems to be a bit of a mystery — and not just to me. From what I read, while there is a courtship angle to the behavior, that may not be its only context.

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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: Architecture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Silo and Shadows

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Silo and Shadows
Morning shadows fall across the curving surface of an agricultural silo, Central Valley, California.

Silo and Shadows. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning shadows fall across the curving surface of an agricultural silo, Central Valley, California.

This photograph comes from the area where I first learned about bird photography. I’ve told the story before, but here’s the outline. I had almost no interest in photographing birds — it was completely outside my experience. One morning I was at my local espresso stand when I struck up a conversation with a friend who was also in the line. She happened to mention a birding location that she liked just south of Sacramento, California. For some reason, I was intrigued, and since I had some time to drive a few days later I headed out there, not knowing what I would find. It was a winter morning and as the sun rose I found thousands of birds everywhere — on the ground and in the sky. I had not idea what kind of birds they were (I think I assumed that all birds were geese…) but I was hooked. This was the start of a passion for photographing them.

You may wonder how that connects with this photograph. As I explored that area I came to some flooded rice fields, and nearby found a structure including several silos. I photographed it, and periodically I’ve returned to photograph it again. I photographed this view on a sunny morning, when the reflections of angled pipes, ladders, supports, and wire produced a complex pattern across the curving, corrugated metal skin of this silo.

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

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