Geese, Morning. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 1, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A huge flock of geese settled in under San Joaquin Valley dawn sky
Arriving near here before dawn on New Year’s Day 2016, our little group was a bit surprised to hear very few birds. Typically they are the first thing we notice when we get out of our vehicles — many thousands of birds raucously greeting the dawn. But on this morning there were almost no bird sounds at all. There was a rumor of geese nearby along a country road, so some of us headed that direction, and we did find a modest sized group of birds there. It wasn’t an astonishing number, but it least there were some.
Settling in to wait for dawn and perhaps more birds, things were fairly quiet. But before long more geese began to fly in, arriving in groups from the south and settling in on the ponds. In this place that can often be extremely foggy, the fog was thinner on this morning, and the hazy dawn light filtered through to shine on the water and silhouette the trees.
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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