Sandhill Cranes at Sunset

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The winter sunrise and sunset with sandhill cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge are always good photography challenges. We had two sunset opportunities during our trip in early December for the Festival of the Cranes. The first day was cloudy but there was a ‘hole’ in the clouds at just the right time to light up a group of cranes. The problem was the cranes were grouped together…and chowing down rather than settling for the night. The birds were in one of the flooded ‘wet soil’ farming units that had plenty of small invertebrates and seeds in the shallow water for them to eat. The cranes were up and own…focused on feeding…and the stubble made for a messy water surface.

I didn’t ever find a solitary crane free of stubble. The image below was a closest as I got…but I still like the silhouette of the bird…balance on one leg…surrounded by the orange glint of sunset on the water.

The next opportunity was on a different pond, and we arrived well before sunset. I got a zoomed shot of a female Northern Shoveler than I liked…and turned around to get a picture of the moon. The idea was to use the color of sunset and then – perhaps – do some photography with the light of the moon.

The sun went down, and I realized that the water was shallow enough that the surface was not going to be a smooth in this location either.

I opted to try to photograph cranes as they flew in to roost…backlit by the waning sunset. I didn’t get good enough at it until the color was mostly gone. The moon was bright behind me.

The cranes were moving about their roost pond but not so intent on feeding as the previous day/location. My favorite picture was one of the last that I took….with two cranes moving through silver water.