Tag Archives: water

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

Wetland Menagerie

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Wetland Menagerie
A small collection of shallow water feeders in Central Valley wetlands.

Wetland Menagerie. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small collection of shallow water feeders in Central Valley wetlands.

Today’s photograph is something that is a bit more of a record perhaps — a photograph of three sorts of wetland birds that are not among those that typically loom largest in our attention. The long-beaked birds at the left are white-fronted ibises. I think that the brown birds are teals — perhaps cinnamon teals? The taller black and white birds are black-necked stilts.

All of these are shallow-water feeders. The ibises and stilts give this away with their long legs and beaks, while the ducks dispense with the dignity that comes from standing erect and simply get up close and personal with the water and the muck beneath it. I’ve written before about how I came to photograph such critters not from an initial attraction to birds, but more to discovering them in the landscape. This leads to several aspects of my relationship to birds: I’m not an expert on them, and I’m still learning new things about them all the time. (This week’s new nugget is that there are “diving ducks” and “dabbling ducks.” Who knew?)

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

Sandhill Cranes, Winter Morning

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Sandhill Cranes, Winter Morning
A large flock of sandhill cranes in a wetland pond on a winter morning.

Sandhill Cranes, Winter Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large flock of sandhill cranes in a wetland pond on a winter morning.

The routine on this (almost certainly ) final day of migratory bird photography for this season was much as it always is, though it started at an earlier hour to accommodate the late winter sunrise. Up at three-something AM and on the road after a quick cup of coffee, I arrived here before dawn. I was pleasantly surprised to find a bit of fog in the air as I began to look for a sunrise subject, and before long I found a very large group of sandhill cranes. When everything works out just right there is a short period of beautiful, warm light as the sun comes up, especially on a morning when a bit of fog or haze softens the light.

This group of cranes was part of an extremely large group of them — perhaps as many as I’ve seen at one time. They have a routine, too. At some point around sunrise they typically begin to take to the air in small groups and fly away, and that process began soon after I started to photograph 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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Tree, Boulders, and Shoreline

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Tree, Boulders, and Shoreline
An old, gnarled tree grows among shoreline boulders, Yosemite National Park.

Tree, Boulders, and Shoreline. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old, gnarled tree grows among shoreline boulders, Yosemite National Park.

This photograph comes from a short trip to a popular Yosemite National Park backcountry lake more than a decade ago. It was the very beginning of autumn, and I managed to squeeze in a short escape between back-to-college meetings and the start of a new academic term. A group of fellow photographers was beginning a back-country stay of a bit more than a week, so I decided to join them for the first few days. (It turned out that my need to leave early was perhaps fortuitous — they reported to me that a few days after my departure an early season snow storm came in and dropped temperatures as low as five degrees!)

Autumn is the quiet season in the Sierra, or at least it was a decade ago. The summer crowds begin to thin after Labor Day, and by the end of September and the first half of October the backcountry seems almost deserted. It is a time to sit quietly and take in the scene before the winter snow arrives.

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

Alpine Lake Shoreline

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Alpine Lake Shoreline
Morning light on shoreline terrain at a backcountry Yosemite lake.

Alpine Lake Shoreline. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on shoreline terrain at a backcountry Yosemite lake.

Today I continue the retrospective reminiscence, looking at a few older photographs made more than a decade ago at a favorite Yosemite backcountry location. By the time I made the photographs in this series, I had probably been visiting this place virtually every year for over two decades. Perhaps because it is the sort of place where you can get to high elevations pretty quickly, it drew me back again and again. Over time I became very familiar with the lake and its surroundings, to the extent that it became a sort of backcountry home away from home.

I would typically camp here in an area sheltered by trees and equipped with glacial rocks apparently designed with excellent sitting and cooking opportunities in mind. Over the years I tended to go later and later in the season, often making this the last trip of a season after the summer crowds had departed. While there are lots of photographic opportunities in the surrounding alpine meadows and ridges, I often simply got up and wandered around the lake in the early morning light.

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.

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