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Sand Hill Cranes, again!

Yesterday, we had a chance to return Ewing Bottoms to photograph the Sand Hill Cranes. When we arrived at the locations we shot last week, there were no cranes to be found. I had seen a posting in the last week that the cranes were south a few miles in Medora. Once we passed through town, we found a number of cranes on the north side of the ride.

It was another cold day with the temperature hovering around 24 degrees, but little wind. We stood in a frozen corn field and shot for around three hours. I was using a rented Sigma 150-600mm lens (sports model). It is a hefty lens and I was evaluating it for possible purchase. I also was using a gimbal head for the first time and was quite pleased with the overall performance. Although, I lost a foot on my tripod and I must wait a week for replacements to arrive. In the meantime, I bought some rubber leg tips from the hardware store to use.

The Sand Hill Cranes are beautiful creature and they make a unique sound. I could photograph them for hours, which we did! There are few samples below and several more in my Cranes, Herons, and Egrets Gallery.

While we were photographing the cranes we saw two whooping cranes (I had put my camera in the bag when they flew over). Next, we went in search of owls. We finally saw one, but it did not roost in the tree where it was spotted last week.

 

Gary

Sand Hill Cranes in FlightAn afternoon flightA sedge of Sand Hill CranesA pair of Sand Hill Cranes

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