A pair o' cranes

[Steve Foss]

Hey all:

We've been at the family lake cabin near Bemidji for a family reuinion, and the nature photography opps have been poor. Very windy the last few days. We did go searching for a buffalo ranch one morning, but it had been abandoned and switched over to crops. More money in corn than in bison, I reckon.

Anyway, in a hayfield, these sandhill cranes were keeping a watchful eye as I got out of the vehicle to photograph them.

Canon 30D, Canon 400 f5.6L, Canon 1.4 TC, iso400, 1/1250 at f8, monopod, full frame left-to-right, crop off top and bottom for pano

[jonny_redhorse]

Nice Steve!....I've seen a few sandhills again this year down in the "bog"....these guys were rare 25 years ago ....in this area anyways...I'll be on vacation all this week so maybe I'll have a chance to run into a few in the fields down south again...they certainly are beautiful birds!

[MN Shutterbug]

Nice to finally see a feathered photo again. Birds are sure scarce this time of year, and the blasted wind doesn't help a bit. Thanks for sharing the nice shot.

[mmeyer]

Great shot Steve. It is nice to see something different once in a while. Those aren't something a person has a chance to see everyday.

Thanks for sharing!

[Canon Guy]

Really nice Steve! I saw those for the first time last winter in Florida but did not get a nice image.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Nice to see them! I have some in the corn fields around our house-I never see them,but hear their unusual calls each morning.