Cranes Again

 Today I photographed the sandhill cranes at the same place, Twin Lakes outside Willcox, Arizona, but with the snow-capped peaks of the Chiricahua Mountains (instead of buttes and Dos Cabezas Mountains) in the background.

Cranes at rest

Cranes in flight

Cranes against the sun

Masters of the Cochise County Winter Sky

 

They were not airborne when I arrived at Twin Lakes about 1 p.m. but all clustered in the shallow water. The ones that look the most out of focus above are reflections of the standing birds. 

I drove around to another part of the pond, where the background of my photos would be the peaks of Dos Cabezas. And for some reason totally unclear to me, the birds took flight. It was not my presence; there were several other vehicles and even a couple of photographers with tripods. No problem, of course, because they are magnificent in the air. The only trouble I'm having now, as I look at what my camera caught, is deciding which is my favorite -- if I had to pick just one. What do you think? And I'm making it easy! I'm not posting every shot!

one

two

three

four

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

Too Soon They Leave, Too Fast They Fly

Why are these leaves in Omena changing color so soon? Will they fall before fall arrives or hang on through the winter?

Canada geese and sandhill cranes have not left yet but seem to be thinking about it, gathering their energy for the long journey south.

Back Home in Michigan

An Exciting Morning in the Neighborhood

Saturday dawned fresh and cool, the world washed clean and clear by overnight storms. Crows brought life to the morning skies and filled the air with their calls.

Sarah's (and mine) were the first tracks on the rain-wet road, other than those made by the tires of a vehicle that passed before we arrived. Some people would never want to track with a dog, I know. Doesn't she mess up the evidence of what's gone before? Sometimes, possibly, but watching her and examining her tracks is a learning experience, too. In the first shot above, the distance between tracks makes clear that she was running, as does the deepness of the front of the print at left. When we returned not many minutes later, Sarah's track (below) looked different. Do you see what happened in the interim?

There was no sign of sandhill cranes on the road, but I kept hearing them and looking up, expecting to see them flying over the orchard. They were in the neighborhood. But where? Plenty to see on the ground, anyway. 

. . . 

And then -- my foot dislodged a rock that demanded to be rinsed off and inspected more closely -- 

Another reminder that not all Petoskey stones are found on the beach. After all, our whole neighborhood was underwater long ago.

But there were those cranes calling again. Where were they? Not in the orchard, not in the corn.

At last, farther than I had thought, at the far side of a field bordering Jelinek Road --

Very satisfying! And then it was time to go to work.

Banquet Table Is Spread Outdoors

Besides great kielbasa and beer 

and crisp, crinkle-cut sweet potato fries,

another reason to drive to the Cedar Tavern

at this time of year

is driving back north and seeing wildlife

out  in the fields.

The sandhill cranes have returned, 

and the deer are finally able to browse

without having to paw through 

a hard crust of snow.