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

Two Cranes in Flight

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Two Cranes in Flight
Two sandhill cranes fly in close formation.

Two Cranes in Flight. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two sandhill cranes fly in close formation.

Since I now have a group of sandhill crane photographs in process it looks like I’ll be continuing to share this subject over the next week or so, mixed in with some other subjects that I’m working on at the same time. These wildlife photographs come from my winter visits to the Pacific Flyway to see geese, cranes, herons, egrets and lots of other seasonal visitors to California.

I’m certainly repeating myself when I write that sandhill cranes have perhaps become my favorite birds among those I photograph. For some reason, perhaps some passages in Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac” that I read decades ago, these birds have fascinated me since I first saw them. Unlike the geese that first attracted me to winter bird photography, cranes tend to be found (at least in these parts) in smaller groups. Where migratory geese are often found in groups of thousands, cranes are more typically in groups which, at their largest, may be in the hundreds, and which may often be as small as a couple of birds, as in this photograph.

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Spring Green

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Spring Green
Spring foliage growing in the hills of Santa Clara County.

Spring Green. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring foliage growing in the hills of Santa Clara County.

This little intimate landscape vignette comes from a rural county park not far from where I live. I’ve hiked this location for several decades. It is one of my go-to places for quick doses of nature, as I can go there and get in a good hike between breakfast and lunch. Most of the park consists of rather open oak and grassland country, but there are places in the lowlands where things can be quite lush and green at the right times of the year, especially during California’s early spring “impossibly green” season.

I love traveling to more distant landscapes as much as anyone — going to places that seem more rugged and further from the civilized world. But over the years I’ve come to treasure the more local landscapes, too. Admittedly, I’m blessed by living less than an hour from redwood groves and the Pacific Ocean, and only a few hours from the Sierra. But much closer and seemingly less spectacular locations abound here, too.

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: Central California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Surf, Fog, and Peninsula

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Surf, Fog, and Peninsula
A peninsula disappears into coastal fog beyond a surf-filled bay along California’s rugged Big Sur coast.

Surf, Fog, and Peninsula. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A peninsula disappears into coastal fog beyond a surf-filled bay along California’s rugged Big Sur coast.

Aside from a few camping trips in relatively remote places, we hardly travelled at all between March of 2020 and the beginning of May 2021. I managed to spend a little time in the Eastern Sierra last fall, I had a great visit to Death Valley back in early April, I’ve gotten to the coast a few times, and I did manage one-day trips to photograph birds — but that’s it. So our recent multi-day (and multi-purpose, though that’s a different story…) trip down the California coast and back to visit Southern California was quite special. We planned to go south on route 1, but we then decided to add a night on the return trip so that we could go back home the same way. This photograph comes from a stop along that coastline on a very foggy day.

The region we call the “Big Sur Coast” (from my perspective, encompassing the section from about Point Lobos south to the lower bluffs below Ragged Point) has had a string of tough years. Flooding has repeatedly closed the route, wildfires scorched huge areas, and businesses have suffered. There are numerous causes for the situation, ranging from climate change to increasing tourism, but the place has been changed. On the other hand, the route is open now, and the spell of this rugged section of Pacific coast is as strong as ever.

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.

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Approaching Cranes

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Approaching Cranes
A group of sandhill cranes approaches on a winter morning along the Pacific Flyway.

Approaching Cranes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of sandhill cranes approaches on a winter morning along the Pacific Flyway.

For the next week or so I expect to indulge my fascination with sandhill cranes as I continue to dig back into photographs from the final day photographing them during this past winter season. Of course, when I’m photographing these birds I am usually also photographing others… and photographing the landscapes in which they are found. So expect come geese and who knows what else along with some winter landscapes from the wetland and agricultural regions where I find these beautiful birds.

Quite a few of my photographs of these cranes tend to are in profile, perhaps as they line up in the wetlands in the early morning, or as they fly past me during the fly-in and fly-out times. There are several reasons for this, but one is that cranes that fly toward humans often divert at the last minute — they seem particularly wary of flying right over us. Often I have figured out the place where cranes were crossing the landscape, gone there to wait for them, and noticed them immediately readjusting their flight path to avoid the spot. This group was more cooperative than most. I stopped and waited during the morning fly-out, and eventually this group headed straight toward me in the early light before diverging at the last moment just a bit to pass on my right.

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.