These sandhill cranes woke up to a fresh blanket of snow in full sunshine just like us. Walking outside in the morning at this time of year, we're greeted by the sounds of sandhill cranes all around us. We're right on their migration route, and groups of hundreds- sometimes thousands - spend the night within a mile of us. If something spooks them at night, we'll hear their alarm calls, and I'll know to head out in the morning with the camera.
Most of these birds stay away from people, and spend the night in the wetlands and farm fields nearby, but there are areas where some feed close to the country roads. I would often walk a mile or so to view and photograph them, but seeing me, they would quickly fly a few hundred feet away from me. I found that if I drive my car down the road, they're not alarmed much, if at all. I suppose they're used to cars, and realize the cars don't come close to them or pose a threat to them. I can spend some time photographing them from my car without alarming them at all - kind of a drive-by photo shoot.
I don't consider myself a wildlife photographer, but I won't pass up an opportunity to photograph animals. I won't wait hours and hours for an animal to appear in hopes of getting a photo of it, but if it presents itself to me, I'll spend a couple of minutes attempting to capture an image.
There are plenty of people who love the challenge of getting photos of animals - I'll leave that to them, they're better prepared for such things! Meanwhile, you'll just have to settle for these photos.
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