Tag Archives: wing

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

Two Pelicans in Flight

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Two Pelicans in Flight
Two Pelicans in Flight

Two Pelicans in Flight. North of Santa Cruz, California. May 15, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two pelicans in flight along high bluffs above the Pacific Ocean coast north of Santa Cruz, California.

More pelicans… These were photographed along the bluff just south of Waddell Beach, the coastal section of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. I’ve observed the pelicans – and other birds – skim past very close to the edge of the bluff and then descend to the outlet of Waddell Creek on the beach.

The light on this day was not especially conducive to landscape photography – it had been a sort of murky, gray morning – so I thought I’d use the softer light (with its tendency to reduce blown highlights and to bring out shadow detail) to try to photograph these great birds. The pelicans are often seen along the coast in California, though their numbers had seemed to decrease over the winter. On this morning it seemed like they might be increasing once again.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1600 second

keywords: pelican, pelagic, bird, sea, shore, sky, cloud, two, nature, wildlife, bif, santa cruz, county, davenport, california, usa, north america, fly, flight, wing, beak, flock, group, wild, highway, one, pacific, ocean, bluff, stock, northern

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Pelican Trio

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Pelican Trio
Pelican Trio

Pelican Trio. Near Davenport, California. May 15, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three pelicans in flight along the Pacific Ocean coastline near Davenport, California.

I had a few hours to photograph along the coast north of Santa Cruz, California on this morning so I decided to head up as far as Waddell Creek beach (part of Big Basin State Park) and see what I could come up with. The light wasn’t promising. It was foggy – which can be interesting – but the sort of fog that sits a few hundred feet up above the ocean, leaving the view sort of dismal and gray. I figured that possibilities might include certain landscape photographs (perhaps on the fog/sun boundary, where things can be interesting), wildflowers (near their peak along the coast, and often interesting in soft, diffused light), and wildlife.

I’m always interested in photographing the pelicans that skim up and down the coast, often in groups of a half a dozen or more. At my first stop at Scott Creek I didn’t see much of interest, so I kept going. Just north of here the road travels along the edge of tall coastal bluffs, and shore birds often skim right along the edge of these cliffs. I stopped at one such spot where I’ve photographed before and made a few photographs of gulls and pelicans and other birds, but then quickly moved on to Waddell Creek beach.

After shooting at Waddell for a while I headed back to the south. Near the top of the hill rising south from Waddell, I happened to look to the west and saw a large flock of pelicans passing right along the bluff, not more than 15-20 feet from the edge. I slowed and before I could stop another large flock repeated the pass of the first group. I quickly unloaded by gear and headed out to the edge of the bluff… only to wait for 10-15 minutes without another flock passing by. (I could have predicted that! :-) However, patience paid off and eventually several large groups appeared along the bluff and passed right in front of me, including this trio that was part of a much larger flock.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1000 second

keywords: pelican, sea, shore, bird, fauna, nature, flight, flock, group, three, trio, wing, span, coast, bill, feather, pacific, ocean, sea, shore, line, coast, highway, one, davenport, california, usa, north america, wildlife, animal, fly, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Pelican Flock in Flight

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Pelican Flock in Flight
Pelican Flock in Flight

Pelican Flock in Flight. Near Davenport, California. May 15, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of pelicans in flight over the Pacific Coast near Davenport, California.

Since I’ve recently posted other photographs of pelican flocks along the Pacific coast of California, I’ll keep the commentary shorter on this one. While driving along Highway One just north of Davenport, California – close to Waddell Creek, actually – I noticed a spot that looked ideal for photographing shorebirds: a place where the land extended a bit further toward the ocean and where access to the to top of the high bluff was fairly easy. The birds often fly along the tops of these bluffs, I assume because they can coast in the updraft created by wind coming off the ocean. If I am patient and/or lucky a flock may pass by very close to me. It still isn’t easy to get a photograph – there are a number of challenges: if the birds are below me the camera wants to focus on the water or the rocks beyond the birds, tracking a flock of moving birds that fills the viewfinder is no easy thing, not all birds are equally photogenic (depends on position, health of the bird, etc.), and I have to be able to anticipate their appearance and then react instantly.

This flock was very cooperative! They were so kind as to arrange themselves in an appealing formation – and to make sure that “everyone can see the camera!” They also made a slight turn toward the coast, allowing be to see their heads and eyes. And their passage was relatively slow and predictable.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1000 second

keywords: pelican, bird, sea, pelagic, shore, ocean, coast, davenport, california, usa, north america, nature, fauna, wildlife, flock, group, bill, wing, water, pacific, fly, flight, brown, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Pelicans Skimming the Beach

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Three Pelicans Skimming the Beach
Three Pelicans Skimming the Beach

Three Pelicans Skimming the Beach. Waddell Beach, California. December 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three pelicans skim just above Waddell Beach along the California Pacific coast.

Considering just how many of the motion-blur pelican shots I’ve posted, I should probably have titled this one “Three MORE Pelicans Skimming the Beach.” ;-)

Besides the in-motion quality from the blur from camera motion, bird motion, and flapping wings, one thing that really struck me about this set of three pelicans was just how close to the sand they were flying. The lead bird was about as close as it could come without touching the sand with its wingtips.

A sight like this often makes me recall other encounters with animals in which they seemed to be doing something for the sheer joy of it: a bear I once saw travel across alpine rock fields to a high point on a ridge, where it stopped to take in the view for a minute or two before racing back down into a valley; a coyote in a high canyon in the eastern Sierra singing duets with its echo at dawn; and more. Of course I have no proof of this, but I like to imagine that these birds must find this low level flight to be exciting.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

keywords: motion, blur, pacific, ocean, sea, coast, highway, one, coastal, california, usa, motion, blur, in, flight, pelican, bird, wildlife, nature, surf, wave, sand, reflection, wing, low, skim, beach, diagonal, silhouette, winter, waddell, beach, state, park, big, basin, shore, line, stock