Sandhill cranes are fairly common to abundant where I live in Michigan. Unlike the open sky panorama shots of El Bosque, I can get photos of sandhills up close and personal. This one was caught preening under its wing and gave me a quick peek during the procedure. I cropped the image to emphasize the curvature of the neck and surrounding feathers and to place the eye in the upper third of the LH side of the image.
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Very nice intimate portrait of one of these magnificent birds.
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Very cool image Jim! I like the pose and detail, and the lighting, especially around the eye is very good. But the eye totally makes the shot. No nits from me.
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I’ve never seen such a closeup portrait of one – wonderful!! Fantastic “pose” and lighting with great detail!
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Wow this is great. I really need to up my sandhill game. Do the whoopers come up there, too? The population in Wisconsin is pretty stable, but sandhills are everywhere. The light and the detail in the feathers is wonderful. We think of them as drab birds, but there is variation in color and texture that you can only appreciate this close.
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Nice and intimate look, it must be a thrill when you can have them so close (or I should say ‘at all’ since we don’t really have Cranes around here). Nice shot ! Hans
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There are so many extraordinary images on this site, that at times I feel a little overwhelmed at commenting on the images. This one is no exception.
My eye goes straight to the bird’s eye and then follows down the curvy neck to see the beautiful greys and browns.
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Wonderful close up look and I agree with @glennie about the wonder of the some of the images posted here. That eye certainly brings you in for a close look at the flexibility and suppleness of the neck.
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Jim, I saw this earlier but somehow didn’t post a reply. This is an awesome shot of a crane. I have never been able to get this close. I love the pose, the positioning and the lighting. A perfect shot in every way.
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Another lovely crane portrait, Jim. We have a fair number at one of the area refuges, but they’re pretty skittish and tend to stay well away from the people paths.
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