Tag Archives: wetland

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Redwing Blackbird

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Redwing Blackbird
A male redwing blackbird perches on winter vegetation.

Redwing Blackbird. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A male redwing blackbird perches on winter vegetation.

Redwing blackbirds, especially when they flock together, seem like some of the most exuberant birds in my part of the world. On the ideal morning, hundreds (or more!) of them may assemble on a tree or among reeds, chirping and singing enthusiastically… only to suddenly and unexpectedly take to the air in tightly spaced groups whose flight patterns are amazing.

I didn’t have quite that experience on this occasion, but it was still a worthwhile moment. This bird was perched by itself on this winter wetland vegetation. As the male birds do, he was showing off his bright red wing patches as he faced m , with the wetland landscape barely visible in the distant background

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

Evening Clouds, Winter Wetlands

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Evening Clouds, Winter Wetlands
Dissipating rain clouds at dusk above winter wetland landscape

Evening Clouds, Winter Wetlands. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dissipating rain clouds at dusk above winter wetland landscape.

This past weekend I was doing the long drive back from Death Valley National Park to the San Francisco Bay Areas. This is quite a drive — a long one that takes the better part of a full day, and a route that begins in one of the most arid locations in North America and ends in the cool and moist Bay Area. I have various ways to break up the long drive, and one of them is often to make a final stop at one of the great Central Valley wetland areas a couple of hours from my destination.

In fact, that was my plan on this trip. I wasn’t sure of the weather of my timing, but as I came to the base of Tehachapi Pass in Bakersfield it looked more like my schedule and the weather might cooperate, so I eschewed the usual I-5 homebound route and instead headed up Route 99, with a plan to cut over to wetland further up the Valley. I arrived to find… not too many birds (it was, after all, late in the season) but ponds full of welcome water reflecting a sky filled with dissipating rain clouds.

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: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Pond, Dawn Sky

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Geese, Pond, Dawn Sky
Ross’s geese in a wetland pond on a foggy morning beneath dawn sky

Geese, Pond, Dawn Sky. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ross’s geese in a wetland pond on a foggy morning beneath dawn sky.

There is often a particular esthetic around bird photography that concentrates on close photographs of individual birds. I’ve often thought that the reasons for this particular approach are several. For some bird photographers – though not so much for me — this work is an outgrowth of “birding,” and in that endeavor being able to view individuals close up is a goal. There’s also an element of the technical challenge. It isn’t easy to get in position to fill the frame with one bird, and it is even more difficult when the bird is in flight. On top of that, we must acknowledge that for at least a subset of bird photographers, the acquisition and use of really big and really expensive lenses has its attractions.

I’m not immune to those things, but I often find myself approaching birds in a somewhat different way. Few of my photographs feature a single bird filling the frame. (I can do that, and I have, just not that often.) More typically, the photographs include a group of birds — a couple of them together or perhaps thousands — and place them in the landscape. The latter is quite likely linked to my long interest in the landscape as a subject. This photograph clearly fits that lineage — it is what I think of as a “birdscape,” a photograph including birds in the landscape they occupy. I made this photograph in a water-filled place on a foggy morning when soft and colorful dawn light briefly lit the sky.

David Hoffman and I have an exhibit of “birdscapes” opening very soon at Stellar Gallery in Oakhurst, California, near the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. If you’ll be in the neighborhood — going to see the Yosemite Valley snow or to photograph Horsetail Fall? — stop by and take a look at our photographs!

February 16th-March12th. Reception February 16 5-8:00PM. Stellar Gallery, Oakhurst, California

Birdscapes — David Hoffman and G Dan Mitchell
Birdscapes — David Hoffman and G Dan Mitchell

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

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

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Two Sandhill Cranes In Flight

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Two Sandhill Cranes In Flight
Two sandhill cranes take to the air on a foggy morning

Two Sandhill Cranes in Flight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two sandhill cranes take to the air on a foggy morning.

Most often when I see these birds in flight they are in somewhat larger groups, especially during the daily fly-in and fly-out events. Then they may fly in long lines, either side by side or beak to tail. By comparison to some of the other birds of similar size, they usually have a fairly smooth and steady sort of flight — with the exception of absolutely manic moves that they sometimes make when they arrive in the evening, with some birds seemingly dropping suddenly out of the sky and skidding off in odd directions.

This pair was almost heading straight toward me, and at a fairly low altitude. This is a bit unusual, as that groups that are about to fly over me typically divert at the last minute and pass to one side or the other. (I’d guess that out of all the groups that look like they will fly right over me, no more than one our of twenty actually do.) One thing I enjoy about this photograph is that you can see the birds in two different ways — either as a pair of separate individuals or as a striking combined x-shaped pattern.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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