I got a several photos of the cranes! They are so very hard to sneak up on…I had to walk very, very carefully….taking only a few steps at a time and then waiting and waiting and waiting…no dogs, cats, children or husband along. Just me and my camera.
It is a fact they are Sandhill Cranes…very lovely birds.
In the hundreds that are wintering here, I see no Canada Geese with them. Usually we have hundreds of geese and no Sandhill Cranes.
They enjoy the corn and they like to be with the cows. The corn they seem to like the best is the hard-dent corn (corn you feed to animals and make corn bread from), the sweet corn fields they seem to shun.
The only other fields they like are the winter wheat fields, everything else is scorned.
Well, anyway, I made it! Now we all know…
Sandhill Cranes!
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
Awesome!!! You have lots of patience and talent.
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Hooray! Isn’t it great when you can finally make that animal shot? I can’t imagine being a wildlife photographer for a living. Lots and lots of sitting and waiting and wishing.
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A momentous occasion! Excellant photos of Sandhill Cranes with your cows.
Much enjoyed!
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Great Pictures!!! I love the one where you can see their red. Thank you 🙂
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Wow! Very impressive. We used to watch a pair of red tail hawk nest and riase their young every year. Plus, a heron on the pond. But the livestock guardian dog keeps them all away now. Eh, trade offs!
Stevie@ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com
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Great pictures…
I love to just watch nature…I always stop to watch the geese fly over me…honking to say HI…. just hope they never drop any ‘love’ notes on me (o:
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Super pictures!!! Now you/we know for sure that they are Sandhills. They came to your farm for the corn!! Smart birds, lucky you.
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Great pictures. I’ve never seen those kind of birds before. Thank you for your patience.
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Amazing! They are beautiful and you deserve an award for sneaking up on them 😉
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Wow! Congrats on such success! Way to be the patient, sneaky wildlife photographer. So that’s where our sandhill cranes went. Looks like they’ve found a real banquet. When the cranes come here to nest they dance a courting dance that seems to be filled with such joy. Good thing they are good dancers because their singing is pretty rough.
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Awesome, Linda… These may be the same ones who go to Galveston, Texas (where my son lives and sees them) later on… They are gorgeous —and you did get some great photos… It helps not having anyone including your dogs with you….
Thanks so much for sharing.
Hugs,
Betsy
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YAY isn’t it totally cool to get good photos of ANY bird!? You did good Linda and I love the photos. Jealous you are getting to see so many but glad you shared.
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Good going, Linda! Thanks for the pics!
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Very nice! Interesting that they only like certain types of grain. Happy New Year!!
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we have a lot of the cranes here in florida, they are so graceful and pretty and mate for life. I read that Kentucky is opening a hunting season on the cranes that come through there on there way back south. I didn’t know people ate them even.
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Great photos!
We had cranes flying over the farm when we were there. I thought sandhill, but from what I heard on the Cornell web site, we think they were Whooping Cranes. It’s just hard to tell because my camera is stupid. 😉
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Yahoo! You did it! They are beautiful creatures..not too long ago they were endangered and look at how many you have in your fields now! Wonderful! 🙂
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Great shots, there are so many!
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Once again, it is so amazingly cool to see them. the only ones I have ever seen was when we picked my brother up from college in Fort Collins, way back in the day. What a thrill for an eastern birder!
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Those pictures are amazing–the pictures with those jaunty looking cranes surrounding the cows!?!
That’s a hoot! You always bring us the most interesting and beautiful pictures from your home! It’s gorgeous there.
Happy New Year!!
Whit
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What an incredible sight, how wonderful of you to share this with us. Certainly looks like winter. Happy New Year my friend, Julie.
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Am I ever impressed! And what great photos too. It’s good to have a change once in awhile, to see hundreds of cranes instead of hundreds of geese, but both are so important to anyone who is privileged to see them that you are blessed either way. What a wonderful gift to all of us. I hope Pea Green and environs are doing well! It sure looks like they are.
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Amazing! We don’t really get any migrating birds here, they stay down in the waterways. Love seeing them with the cows 🙂
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Beautiful Linda! Glad you got your shots!
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Oh very cool! I am hoping to eventually capture the golden eagle here who likes to inspect what I’m doing on a semi-regular basis. Only, I never have the camera with when s/he comes by, and my hands are full.
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Aren’t they beautiful birds! I am so happy you finally had some success!
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Congratulations on getting these wonderful pictures of the Sandhill Cranes. They are beautiful birds.
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Did I not tell you so? 🙂
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So beautiful!
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Good for you! I love the shot where you can see the red on the crane’s head. How lovely!
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Happy New Year Linda, Wow what great photos. I’ve seen one or two but never that big of a flock. Of course, we have all the Canadian geese here in Windsor. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that you and yours are all doing well. Blessings to you.
Noreen
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the sandhill cranes get very friendly here, people feed them and they come every day for food, if you don’t put food out they will come right up to the windows and peck on them and look inside.e
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Very nice Linda. It is exciting to see these special birds. I agree with the commenter Leenie up yonder, their singing is pretty rough!
We are not in a flyway here, but not far from here the cranes and other migratory birds are an annual spectacle. Thanks for sharing.
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Great pictures, Linda! We have them here, too. I hear them calling as they fly overhead. You did a good job of getting the close-ups!
Blessings!
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Picky yet very beautiful cranes!! Your patience paid off. Gorgeous pictures!!
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These turned out fabulous Linda!
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That is so interesting! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a sandhill crane in person, in the wild. They look so exotic, like WARM weather birds, so that is interesting too. Thanks for sharing.
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