Tag Archives: wildlife

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

Cranes, Sunrise, Winter Sky

Image February 24, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

For weeks I have been thinking about how little time remains before many of our migratory birds depart. I have been eyeing my schedule and the weather conditions looking for the right time to go look for the birds. Ideally I want fog, but that has been missing, first due to a string of very warm days and more recently to unusually cold and wet weather. So I stopped waiting for the perfect conditions that might not arrive, and I headed out to the Central Valley before the cold arrived.

I never know precisely what conditions I’ll encounter. On this visit I knew that forecasts predicted an incoming weather system. Fortunately the early clouds only improved the visual conditions. (Later it clouded up, but then it cleared well before sunset — sometimes I get lucky!) It is easy to point the camera at the rising sun out here, but usually that isn’t so productive since the light overwhelms everything else. But on this morning the sun rose into clouds that muted its intensity. I made this photograph as a flock of sandhill cranes flew past.

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

Great Egret Over Water

Image January 29, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A great egret in flight about a wetland pond, Central Valley, California.

Great egrets are all over the place in California. Years ago when I used to do long bicycle commutes to work, one of my routes took me along a drainage ditch in an area transitioning from rural to urban. Almost every time I passed I would see at least one of these beautiful birds near the water. They are found all over the Central Valley and elsewhere in the state, even along the ocean shoreline.

For being so common, they can be difficult to photograph. Typically they depart if you get too close, and then they fly away from you. So it is easy to make pictures of… the rear end of great egrets! Every so often one gives a side view. Much rarer is a direct frontal approach. This one took off and almost did a half circle around me.

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

Cranes in Silhouette

Image January 25, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sandhill cranes in flight, silhouetted against the sky and sunrise clouds.

Sandhill cranes seem to be among the more wary birds in the locations where I usually do my bird photography this time of year. On occasion, geese will not be uncomfortable within a few dozen feet of humans, especially later in the season. But I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to cranes. They even avoid us when flying, and I’ve often watched a group heading straight toward my position only to divert to one side.

I photographed this small flock around sunrise on a day when various kinds of clouds were in the sky — high, thin clouds that had been brilliantly illuminated by pre-sunrise light, and these thinner, wispier clouds that glowed with more subtle colors. Since I wanted the cloud colors in the photograph, I exposed for them, letting the birds go nearly black.

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

Winter Birds, Dormant Trees

Image January 17, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Migratory geese fly above a copse of dormant wetland trees, Central Valley, California.

This photograph is emblematic of a minor identity crisis I face this time of year when photographing in California’s Central Valley: Am I a landscape photographer or a wildlife photographer? I think the answer is… yes. A few years ago I collaborated with fellow photographers on a show that focused on what we call “birdscapes,” and that invented term encapsulates my approach. Sometimes I do photograph individual birds or small groups in isolation, but mostly I see them as part of this winter landscape.

I made this photograph on New Year’s Day, when a group of us met to ring in the new year and make some photographs. Photographically it was a bit of an odd day — not the greatest light, and not as many birds as sometimes, both the result of this winter’s wet weather in California. But in the morning we did have some nice light, including this moment when the soft light became a bit directional, illuminating these trees still bearing “autumn” color as geese flew past.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wildlife

Cranes, Sunrise, Winter Sky

Great Egret Over Water

Cranes in Silhouette

Winter Birds, Dormant Trees

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