Tag Archives: wildlife

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Tundra Swans, Mountains, and Snow

February 18, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tundra swans fly past snow-covered and cloud shrouded mountains, Klamath Basin

In mid-February I had the opportunity to spend some time in the Klamath Basin, a place I’ve only visited once before, and that on a pass-through to somewhere else. From that earlier visit I recall passing by Upper Klamath Lake, which I had not really known much about, and being surprised by its size and by the obvious potential for wildlife. Years passed and I occasionally thought about the place, but it wasn’t until this year that I finally made it back for a longer visit as part of my project to expand my knowledge of west coast winter migratory bird areas.

This photograph comes from my final morning in the area. I had actually packed up the vehicle and had driven out of Klamath Falls, Oregon to start my long drive home. It was a beautiful misty, rainy, cloudy morning, and as I drove along I came to a quiet lake at which the sun was just breaking through the clouds, so I stopped. Realizing that I was at the far end of a road past the Lower Klamath area (right below the California-Oregon border) I decided to head east. I soon found myself back at a wildlife area where I had spent time photographing over the past few days, mostly focusing on the passing flights of tundra swans. I saw the swans were in the air again, so I left the main road and found a spot out in the wetlands with an expansive view and, among other things, waited for the long strings of birds to pass in front of the winter landscape.

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

Flock of Tundra Swans

February 14, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of tundra swans aloft in evening light about the Klamath Basin

More tundra swans — and I’m not finished yet! I don’t get to see these birds all that often at my usual Central California wildlife photography locations, so finding quite large numbers up here along the California-Oregon border has been pretty exciting. It turns out that while I was here a bit too early for the massive migration of some birds (I hear the geese will be back here in a couple of weeks) I seem to have arrived at just about the right moment for the tundra swans.

This day turned out to be the best for photographing these birds. Early in the morning I happened on a pair of ponds lining a short roadway, and both ponds held good size flocks. The morning light wasn’t quite right so I moved on and photographed other things, but in the evening I was back. During the final half hour or so before sunset, flocks of these birds began to stream back from the south, and I quickly headed back to this pond where I had seen them earlier, figuring that some of them might land here. I was not disappointed! And the light was spectacular, starting out as typical warm-colored late day light against blue toned sky and clouds, and then later lighting up with a brilliant colored sunset.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Tundra Swans

February 13, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A trio of tundra swans in flight in the Klamath Basin

I don’t usually do this, but I’m posting this photograph while I’m still in the field. It is a photograph I made earlier this evening, in the Klamath Basin in far Northern California — so far north in the state that I could look across the road and see Oregon. I’ve been photographing migratory birds in my “home range” of the California Central Valley for so long that I decided it was time to push out those boundaries a bit this season. I’ll share more about what this experience has taught me in a later post.

It is a challenge to photograph in a new place, especially when the subject is wildlife and double-especially when I arrived well after dark the previous night and had to head out again in pre-dawn darkness to find locations I’ve never been to before! Fortunately, I ended up in an area with quite a few birds — though not the dense flocks that I’m used to from some places I more frequently photograph. Here the main show involved a few golden eagles and a large number of tundra swans. I’ve only photographed tundra swans a few times in the past, since they are not all that plentiful in the places I usually visit. But here there were thousands of them, and I ended up photographing them in the morning and then again at the end of the day. From a distance grounded tundra swans look a lot like geese, though larger and with longer necks. Up close you notice that their bills are black, and they make rather different sounds that geese. Their flight patterns are not like geese either. The lumber into the air like jumbo jets loaded for intercontinental flights, gaining elevation very slowly and then flying in a smooth and level path.

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

In Flight, Dusk

February 7, 2016 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Ross’s geese in flight above San Joaquin Valley wetlands in dusk light

This was a beautiful mid-winter day in the San Joaquin Valley. It began with a two-hour pre-dawn drive from home, starting earlier than a month ago now that the days are beginning to lengthen again. I drove in clear weather and it remained so as the sky began to brighten as I entered the valley, but as I got closer to my destination I was pleased to encounter for — thin at first but within minutes so think that I had to slow and turn on fog lights. I arrived at my destination a half hour before sunrise, and began photographing, working all morning before finally taking a break for lunch.

My friends Claudia and Michael had dropped a hint in an email that they might be out that way later in the day, and I was pleased to find them there when I came back from my break. We greeted one another, took a quick trip around the area to scout the birds for evening photography, and then ended right back were we started. Big groups of sandhill cranes and geese (mostly Ross’s but with a few other interlopers mixed in) were active in newly turned fields nearby, so we found a good vantage point and watched as the evening light came on. Eventually the light became so dim that it was no longer really possible to make sharp stop-motion photographs of birds in flight. This is, in a way, one of my favorite times of day, when I switch over from a more typical kind of bird photography and begin to go with the darkness, using slow shutter speeds and panning along with the motion of flocks, and making photographs that work with the motion blur of low light and slower shutter speeds.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wildlife

Tundra Swans, Mountains, and Snow

Flock of Tundra Swans

Tundra Swans

In Flight, Dusk

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