Sandhill Cranes, Big grey birds on a dark grey day

[preames]

I took a bit of a detour on the way to work the other day and ran across a pair of Sandhill Cranes. They let me get pretty close (for a sandhill crane). I was probably within 50 feet at one point - closer than I have ever been to one. Too bad the light was terrible.

[El_Tortuga]

Nice pics of an amazing bird

[Tim T]

Sweet shots Patrick. Good work getting that close. They are very skiddish.

[MichaelW]

Those are great shots. Seen a lot of them before but never noticed the color in their wings.

[lhdvies]

Excellent Patrick, like the colors on the last one!!
Leon

[jfoureyes]

The images and light look perfect to me! I prefer shooting on cloudy/overcast days and in the shade, but that's just my style...

[corralup]

I think cloudy days work for this grey colored bird too! Nice close ups! Lucky you!

[houtex01]

Your BIF shots just continue to amaze me Patrick...must be the combination of the 7D and 500 mm lens or maybe it's just the person controlling that finger on the shutter button...nice work on all of these...viewing these photos caused me to have a childhood memory flashback...as a young boy I spent alot of time on my Grandparents farm...my Granddad had an alfalfa field and I can remember that the Sandhill cranes liked to hang out in it...there was a slough that ran along next to this field...I would sneak down along the slough and crawl up to the fence along the edge of the field...sometimes I could get real close to them...they always amazed me with their size...if only I would have been a camera bug back then...don't think that the Brownie Hawkeye camera would have done justice to these birds...oh well so much for memories...

Ron

[David Alaniz]

Beautiful bird and some great shots. Your BIF's are to shoot for. Like the color on the wings. Great job!

[preames]

Originally Posted by El_Tortuga

Nice pics of an amazing bird

Thanks Joe!

Originally Posted by Tim T

Sweet shots Patrick. Good work getting that close. They are very skiddish.

Thanks Tim - I think the fact that there were only two of them helped. It seems like all it takes is for a single bird to get spooked and all the rest go off at the same time.

Originally Posted by MichaelW

Those are great shots. Seen a lot of them before but never noticed the color in their wings.

Thanks Michael - its the first time I had noticed the gold color too.

Originally Posted by lhdvies

Excellent Patrick, like the colors on the last one!!
Leon

Thanks Leon!

Originally Posted by corralup

I think cloudy days work for this grey colored bird too! Nice close ups! Lucky you!

Thanks Sandy - I did get lucky with these too birds.

Originally Posted by houtex01

Your BIF shots just continue to amaze me Patrick...must be the combination of the 7D and 500 mm lens or maybe it's just the person controlling that finger on the shutter button...nice work on all of these...viewing these photos caused me to have a childhood memory flashback...as a young boy I spent alot of time on my Grandparents farm...my Granddad had an alfalfa field and I can remember that the Sandhill cranes liked to hang out in it...there was a slough that ran along next to this field...I would sneak down along the slough and crawl up to the fence along the edge of the field...sometimes I could get real close to them...they always amazed me with their size...if only I would have been a camera bug back then...don't think that the Brownie Hawkeye camera would have done justice to these birds...oh well so much for memories...

Ron

Thanks Ron. Actually I was using my 1D Mk4 on these. Nice story - I agree, they are a unique bird to observe.

Originally Posted by David Alaniz

Beautiful bird and some great shots. Your BIF's are to shoot for. Like the color on the wings. Great job!

Thanks David - I really appreciate that.

Originally Posted by jfoureyes

The images and light look perfect to me! I prefer shooting on cloudy/overcast days and in the shade, but that's just my style...

Thanks Jim! I like cloudy days too, but that day was a little too dark for me. Ended up having to do a lot of PS work to get the contrast up a bit.

[labmansid]

Nice job, Patrick. Sometimes cloudy days have their place, too.

[scottbuckel]

May not have been perfect light, but you got very nice detail. I particularly like first one.

Scott