Sandhill Cranes at Sunrise

      Watching these beautiful birds was almost a spiritual experience.  When we arrived in 20 deg F weather, about a thousand cranes were huddled together for warmth.  Watching their progress after that was a truly memorable experience.
       As the sun starts rising, there is a lot of stirring.  The first set of birds to take off are  snow geese followed by the first few adventurous cranes.  The cranes first stand up, call out to each other in a pleasant symphony, and start preparing to take off.  Their take off seems almost effortless,  First the wings start flapping.  As they start to rise, the legs are almost floppy and lifeless.  Then magically, as they gain height, they have the constant position of straight legs and spread-eagled wings.  They look truly majestic in this position.  One wonders if the Wright brothers when they first thought about their airplane invention, observed some birds like these to engineer their aircraft.  There really seems to be so much still that we can learn from nature, and it is humbling.
      Most of these photographs were taken at the Bosque del Apache National Preserve in New Mexico.   The Wilderness Society is working hard to make sure that the habitat of these birds is preserved.  Power lines need to be built for alternate energy sources, but we must keep them away from their stomping grounds.    After having watched this performance of nature, the thought  of these birds not existing anymore is truly disturbing.
          View my complete Sandhill Cranes gallery and share any thoughts you have.