Sandhill Cranes

We drove to Jackson County last Friday in search of Sandhill Cranes. Early in the morning, we found the cranes spread across a 2-4 square mile area. After an hour or so, the cranes took the sky in multiple swarms and joined the few cranes that were in the field where we were photographing. An hour or two later, all the cranes in the area (maybe 2-3000) had joined the group we were photographing.

It was very cold and never made it to single digit temperature while we were shooting. I was testing some new gloves and gave up after about 10 minutes as my hands were frozen. My AquaTech Sensory gloves with liners are the best I have found. I also ordered more hand warmers for the next trip.

We had planned to try some different configurations with our cameras and lenses. However, when it is 8 degrees, one’s brain does not work like it does at 70 degrees! Another trip and another day for some testing maybe later this week.

These shots were the early ones as small sedge of cranes would leave the larger flock we were watching and fly around behind us. Maybe they were taking news to the others as to the best feeding place.