Sandhill Crane (In Flight)

 

Below are the best in-flight photos from of the Sandhill Crane near the Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife reserve.  Photographing the Sandhill Crane in the air proved to be much more difficult due to the approach the birds took and their ability to elevate quickly into a bright backlit sky.  Having the focal length of the Panasonic FZ80 would have been nice but the Nikon D70 with the 70-300 mm was the best tool I had to attempt to track, follow and focus in-flight.  With a little cropping the images still show the graceful form they take in the air.  They are a beautiful bird to watch in flight.  









The photo of the crane landing below brings out some of their unique visual characteristics.  The Sandhill Crane is evidently a very old species of bird which has not changed over time.  The birds are probably one of the best examples of what a dinosaur might have looked like and their behavior is very charismatic at times.  They do a very good job staying together as a group.  The one crane that is landing flew out before with another small group but came back for the others before they all flew for the evening.  The crane on the left was talking, the one in the middle looked like it was howling and the one landing looks like some kind of prehistoric dragon like bird.  The Sandhill Crane is very entertaining to watch.


Talking, Howling and Landing:  The Dinosaur Within


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