Tag Archives: white-fronted

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

Sharing the Sky

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Sharing the Sky
Three sandhill cranes share the Central Valley sky with a few geese.

Sharing the Sky. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Three sandhill cranes share the Central Valley sky with a few geese.

During the first part of March, the migratory birds that call the Central Valley home during the winter seem to become restless. At this time of the year I think back to my first late-autumn visits to the birds and recall how it was sometimes hard to find them at all back then, and when I did they were frequently in small groups and at times in places that were not accessible to me. But by the end of their annual residency, they become much more active and appear in greater numbers.

It seems to me that the different kinds of large birds interact with other species much more late in the season. In the early season I might find cranes in one place and geese in an entirely different sort of location. By late winter they often appear together, and mixed groups are often seen in the air and on the ground. In this photograph you can see three varieties of migratory birds — the large sandhill cranes in the middle, a couple of white-fronted geese below, and a group of white snow geese above.

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

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

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

One of These Geese is Not Like The Others

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One of These Geese is Not Like The Others
A flock of airborne Aleutian cackling geese accompanied by a solitary interloper.

One of These Geese is Not Like The Others. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of airborne Aleutian cackling geese accompanied by a solitary interloper.

This post may (or may not…) be more about the birds than about the photography, but I’ll leave the final judgment to readers. Later in the migratory bird season (e.g. “winter”) in California the birds seem to become more active, and I see more of them in large, mixed groups. I’ve mentioned before that I once imagined that all the winter migrators were “geese,” only to eventually learn about others. Eventually it dawned on me that not all geese are just geese and that they come it a great variety. (Photographing with someone who know a lot about these critters helped me begin to learn these things.)

This is a flock of Aleutian cackling geese, a type that I identify by looking for their dark coloration, lack of a particular banding pattern on their chests (more on this in a moment), and the white areas under their “chins” and at the base of their black necks. There is a fascinating story about the recovery of this type of goose, whose total population was once down to a few hundred individuals but which now numbers in six figures. But look more closely and you may be able to spot one interloper here, a goose of a different sort. (Hint: one white-fronted goose has joined this aerial party.)

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.

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White-Fronted Geese

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White-Fronted Geese
Three white-fronted geese in flight at sunset, Central Valley, California.

White-Fronted Geese. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three white-fronted geese in flight at sunset, Central Valley, California.

There’s a story I often tell on myself regarding my introduction to bird photography. I was never really a “birder” type, and I had not paid a lot of attention to birds in my photography or otherwise. One day a friend happened to suggest to me that I go visit a location where she had heard there were winter migratory birds, so I went, more or less on a whim, having no idea what to expect. There were birds. Lots of them. In a place that I had driven past for decades, completely unaware of them. On that day, knowing almost nothing about the birds, I think I identified all of them generically as “geese.” (Looking over my photographs from that day later on, I discovered that many of them were very much NOT geese.)

I’m still far from being a birder and I’m no expert on bird identification. But my understanding has steadily increased and I now even know that… not only are not all birds geese, but not all geese are the same kind! Amazing, I know! As I was learning about the varieties that can be found around here I heard of something called the white-fronted goose. I imagined a goose that was, well, white in front. But I never saw such a thing. Until one day someone pointed them out to me and I realized that it is the front of the head that is white. This group of white-fronted geese flew overhead in the last direct sunlight of a winter day.

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.