Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, Fairbands, Alaska

How not to photograph Sandhill Cranes!

Photographing any wildlife in a reasonably natural setting is not based on luck.  It’s based on effort and knowledge.  I’ve been an active outdoors man for years, but I have no training nor specialized knowledge.  So I depend on new friends – the rangers and naturalists who lead the guided hikes through their parks and refuges.  But that’s only a start – it takes the time to sit and observe.  Even then …

Mark Ross is a naturalist and artist at Creamer’s Fields – his “Field Sketches:  The Alaska Wildlife Almanac” is now a prized possession and his tour is one of my fondest memories.  So my learning and my photography got off to a good start.

Mark took us through a small field with a few birds.  I rather like this portrait of an adult bird.

Mark explained that sandhill cranes generally mate for life and stay together during migration.  Here the adult pair is on the right.  The inmature crane on the far left hasn’t yet developed the red skin cap of an adult, while the mature juvenile has.  I know this because Mark explained it – but my butt shot leaves a lot to be desired!

Mark described the sandhill’s dance routine.  I captured this sequence beginning with the leap, including our footpath and informative sign!

and a jumble of birds,

plus a bow.   Hey it’s hard to get quality pictures when you’re learning!

He also pointed out several groups of birds in flight.  Birds were just starting to arrive for their migratory journey.

I found the wing motions fascinating and tried to capture the variety of positions as they flew.

Then chance drew us to the songbird banding that I described in the previous post.  The next day Mark was gone and I was on my own.

Overnight hundreds more birds had arrived.  For migration, family groups join with other family groups.

Maybe this is a family.  But in the jumble of birds below – it’s not easy to determine nesting pairs, or even which are babies and which are juveniles.

And the more birds, the worse it gets …  Still this picture illustrates another sandhill habit.  As they groom themselves, they color their wings with the mud in the water they use for grooming.  Light grey is the natural color, the brown is the color that results as their wings become coated with mud!

Perhaps the birds in back, headed left, are one extended family and the birds in front headed right are another.  But don’t ask me!

Here I’ve cropped out a bunch of birds to simplify things – so I’ve tried to create a pair that may or may not be a pair.

The sandhill cranes were great fun to observe.  Turns out, sandhills hop a lot!  None of them appear to be dancing though.  Probably because it migration time, not mating season!

Here two hop side-by-side.

Here one just shows off.

And look at the height this one gets!

And this one!

They’re noisy creatures – This caller is probably a male because of the vertical extension.  Male and female calls are different but don’t ask me how or what they sound like.

I also noted that they drink a lot.  After sipping, some lift their heads to let the water slide down their throats and some don’t.  Just an observation…

So I had a great time observing.  Learned a lot.  Learned how much more I don’t know.  But didn’t get any photographs worth keeping.  But next time I photograph them I will!

Next, on to the Arctic Circle!