Tag Archives: wetlands

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

Post-Sunset Geese

January 20, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter geese fly toward wetlands after sunset

These days photographing wild birds are frequently long. For me they begin about three hours before dawn, when I awake to a (very) early alarm, grab coffee and a bit of food, load my vehicle, and start out on a two-hour drive in the darkness. As I approach my destination the first color is coming to the sky above the Sierra — that is if tule fog doesn’t reduce visibility to 100 feet or so! I arrive a half hour before sunrise, set up camera equipment, and begin to work. At first I may make some landscape photographs, since it is often still too early to handhold the camera for bird photography, but soon the first birds fly up from the ponds. I usually spend the next three hours of so photographing birds and landscape — though the precise time varies depending on the conditions — and then I take a break in the middle of the day. By mid-afternoon I’m back, looking for evening photographic opportunities, and the pace of the work increases as sunset approaches. During the last few minutes of light a lot happens quickly, and then I photograph until the light is gone.

I made this photograph during that late period, following sunset, when lingering light colored the thin clouds above the western mountains. Around sunset there is a period of coming and going by the birds. Birds may rise up from ponds and fly away, or flocks may arrive from distant points and settle in for the night. Often cranes arrive just after sunset. The birds in this photograph are geese, most likely Ross’s geese, approaching the wetland ponds from that western sunset sky.

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

Geese, Dusk, Pond, and Tree

January 12, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Geese take off over pond and tree at dusk

This day in the wetlands was something of a surprise. When I arrived before dawn, the light was dreary, with a shield of clouds from a passing cold front hiding the sky and the sun, with the exception of a very narrow band along part of the eastern horizon. There was little photograph in this light, but before long the sun rose though that gap and provided perhaps ten minutes of beautiful light… and then that show was over and the flat light returned. All morning long it remained cloudy, though that band of open sky in the east gradually expanded and worked its way toward my position.

Just past midday I finally took a break and left to grab a bite to eat. An hour later I was back, and now the clouds above this area were breaking up and the light was starting to be interesting. By evening most of the sky was clear, though the air remained hazy — not unusual for this part of the world in winter. I looked around for the birds that I wanted to photograph, but wasn’t finding any large flocks. Finally I made it back to where I started… just as geese began to fly out from their resting place in nearby ponds. I put a long lens on the camera and continued photographing well past sunset, as the sky darkened and waves of birds continued to fly away. In the end, this day was a reminder that sometimes finding beautiful conditions requires facing some less exciting light… and being persistent and patient.

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

Winter Wetlands

December 28, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ponds and trees on a winter morning in the San Joaquin Valley

This is a very familiar spot to me — and probably to some of my friends as well. We often pass through this area while photographing in the San Joaquin Valley, usually looking for migratory birds (and often in very dense fog!). This is a landscape of farmland, interspersed by ponds, in and area of the valley through which large rivers travel — or traveled, until the waterways were “managed” for agricultural and other uses. There are trees, too, though they are often widely separated from one another or else arranged in long rows along roads and property lines.

There are a few birds in this photograph — you may see them on the water if you look closely — but it is more about the landscape. Here it consists of (mostly) those ponds, divided by low levees on which grasses and other plants grow and an occasional tree takes root.

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

Crane, Tree, Morning Sky

December 25, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A solitary sandhill crane flies into pre-dawn sky above a silhouetted tree and San Joaquin Valley wetlands

By now you may be getting the idea that I like the brief pre-dawn interval, especially out in this autumn and winter wetlands of Central California. If so, you are right! There is a period of perhaps a half hour or so when the sky begins go glow, and the wetlands birds start their morning rituals — flying out from their overnight spots and generally raising a ruckus. Aside from their noise and fury, the rest of the landscape can be very quiet, as in this photograph.

On this morning I arrived early as usual, paused to set up my gear for photography, then began a circumnavigation of the area, slowing and stopping as various subject appeared. This bare tree, surrounding by reflecting water and set against the pre-dawn sky, caught my attention and I paused to make a few photographs. During this one a solitary crane passed through the scene.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wetlands

Post-Sunset Geese

Geese, Dusk, Pond, and Tree

Winter Wetlands

Crane, Tree, Morning Sky

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