Sandhill Crane at the edge of a storm, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, MontanaSandhill Crane at the edge of a storm – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

Yesterday I was looking for an older image I had taken to create a birthday card for a friend and somehow ended up in an incorrect folder for the image I had in mind. While I was in that folder I took a quick look through it and the images I had taken on that day and came across this photo and wondered why I had never processed it before. So I quickly went to the actual folder I was looking for, edited the image, created the birthday card, shared it and then came back to this file.

I was drawn to this photo because of the light on the Sandhill Crane and the grasses it was foraging in plus how that contrasts with the dark shadows on the mountains behind the bird. I recall that a summer storm was moving in and that the clouds from that storm had caused the shadows on the mountainside behind the hill the crane was on. The crane didn’t stick around long so I am glad I took a few images of it when I did. This photo was taken in June of 2013.

Seeing this photo reminded me that before too long the cranes will be migrating and I will be seeing them here again in northern Utah. I checked eBird and saw that there have been a few sightings of Sandhill Cranes in Utah already this year and that Ouray National Wildlife Refuge has quite a few of the cranes being seen in the past month. I can’t wait to see, hear and photograph them again.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Sandhill Crane photos plus facts and information about this species.