Tag Archives: wildlife

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Clouds

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White Pelicans, Clouds
Four white pelicans in a cloud-filled California late-autumn sky

White Pelicans, Clouds. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Four white pelicans in a cloud-filled California late-autumn sky.

My timing was fortuitous on this morning. The white pelicans usually congrats in groups that appear to contain a few dozen individuals. The often stay more or less in one place for long periods of time, but eventually they decide to move. They take off in long strings of individuals, generally flying past not too far off the ground. This happens suddenly, and if I’m not in the right spot, rather than being close enough to photograph them I watch the brief spectacle from a distance. On this day I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time.

I think of the white pelicans as being special. Perhaps most people wouldn’t, being mostly familiar with white versions of the bird. But I had a long acquaintance with the coastal brown pelicans before I ever realized that the white version was found locally. I’m sure they were around, but someone I didn’t notice — today I see them in quiet coastal waters, in inland ponds, and more. But even today, the coastal birds seem familiar and conventional to me, while these white birds still seem a bit exotic.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife, Shows

Snow Geese in Twilight Flight

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A flock of snow geese in flight at twilight

Snow Geese in Twilight Flight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of snow geese in flight at twilight,

This post is partially about this photograph, partially about birds, and partially about an upcoming event. Stick with me for a moment, and I’ll explain. I came a bit late to photographing birds, having photographed landscapes and other subjects for many years before thinking to approach this subject. For a long time I didn’t regard myself as a “birder” type, but I had a few bird encounters that started me steering in this direction roughly a decade ago. Two of them involved the Pacific Northwest. Back then I did the long drive from the San Francisco Bay Area up to Seattle over two days, starting in the afternoon and passing through the upper Sacramento Valley around dusk. I was amazed to see tens or thousands of birds in the beautiful evening sky, and my interest was piqued. On another visit to Seattle I found myself with a free day and I headed up to the Skagit Valley, not really knowing what I’d see. Soon after arriving I pulled over at a bend in the road near the crossing of the river, and to my astonishment tens of thousands of snow geese descended into the field next to where I had parked.

Since that time photographing birds has become important to me. I’ve come to think of it largely as “birdscape” photography, more about the place of the birds in their landscape and generally not so much about individual birds. I often (though not exclusively) photograph them in flocks, and I work to position them as part of their environment.

And, there is a show coming up! My friend David Hoffman and I are doing a joint exhibit at Stellar Gallery — in Oakhurst at the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. The opening reception will be on February 16 at the Gallery — I’ll share more information soon, and I hope to see you there!

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

White Pelicans, Autumn Sky

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White Pelicans, Autumn Sky
A small flock of white pelicans flies against a late autumn morning sky

White Pelicans, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of white pelicans flies against a late autumn morning sky

For a long time I thought that all California pelicans were the brown pelicans, familiar to anyone who spends time along the coast. Those magnificent birds (with what seems to me to be an almost prehistoric aspect) glide up and down the California coast, floating past headlands, and sometimes alighting on beaches or rocks. I had seen photographs of other pelicans and wondered that they often were while, even though every pelican I had encountered was not.

It turns out that I was simply ignorant of birds that were close by the whole time. In the past few years I have learned that white pelicans are all over California — in inland areas, in lakes, close to the ocean. They are beautiful birds, especially when in flight. I often see them in groups of perhaps a dozen or two, flying in almost straight lines with slowly moving wings. In my (probably atypical) experience, I either see them on the ground near or in water, and off in the distance, or I get quick glimpses as they fly past me. The latter was the case here. I was not far away when I saw a group take off and head towards a spot not far from my position. I quickly moved there and managed to photograph them as they passed overhead with a larger group of geese in flight against the autumn sky in the distance.

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: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature

Coots, Pond, Autumn Sky

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Coots, Pond, Autumn Sky
A flock of coots and autumn morning sky reflected in a wetland pond.

Coots, Pond, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of coots and autumn morning sky reflected in a wetland pond.

Autumn and winter are my favorite seasons, especially but not exclusively for photography. In my part of the world these are the seasons for the most compelling light, the most interesting skies, and transitions of all sorts — the color transition of autumn, the shortening (and subsequent lengthening) of daylight hours, the quicker transitions between rain and sun and fog and wind.  Rather than waiting for those occasional special days, as one often does in the summer, I can just head out and be almost certain of finding something.

This morning was full of surprises. I was up and on the road hours before dawn, expecting to end up in a place full of thick tule fog, where I would photograph a sunrise obscured by this fog and then continue to photograph as it lightened and then cleared. But none of that happened. The weather forecasts were off, and instead it was almost completely clear of fog, opening expansive views to the morning sky. This sky was filled with the early clouds of an incoming Pacific weather front, with only a thin band of clear sky in the distance beyond the edge of the clouds. Shortly after the moment of sunrise, the still-low sun sent its light across the bottom of the cloud deck and the light caught the curving textures of the clouds, here reflected in the water of a pond.

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.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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