My wife is a bird watcher. She says that she’s not very good but I’m always impressed by how much she knows. She’s had a lot of fun this week because she heard about a pair of Sandhill Cranes that were nesting not too far from our house. We first saw the pair by the nest one week ago (5/4). One appeared to be standing watch while the other sat on the nest. We were gone last weekend but heard that one chick hatched on Saturday and another on Monday. I went back on Tuesday (5/8) and saw the pair feeding with two fluffy brown chicks toddling around nearby. It was very … what can I say … cute! I was surprised by how close they came to where two other photographers and I were standing.
We saw the adults again on Wednesday but they were further away and in taller grass so I couldn’t see the chicks. My wife saw them again yesterday but could only see one chick. We both feared that predators had taken the other chick. Today, however, we saw them from less than 10 feet away and both chicks were running around while the adults fed. Occasionally one of the adults would go over and give some food (they looked like grubs) to one of the chicks. Every once in a while the chicks would plop down and rest. The adults, however, were feeding non-stop.
The photographers I saw earlier this week both had tripods and monster lenses. I felt a bit inadequate with my 70-200 f/4L Canon zoom. The cranes were close enough that my lens was more than enough to capture the adults. It was not, however, a chick lens. On the other hand, I was able to move around much more easily than the tripod-bound photographers were. Today the 70-mm end of my lens was sometimes too long to capture the adults and the 200-mm end did a pretty good job of picking out the chicks. Most of the time the birds were in the shade with sun behind them so that created an exposure challenge. I sometimes had to over expose a little, but most of the time I just left the setting alone.
I don’t normally photograph birds since I lack the patience and the photo gear. The photos below are all from today. They may not be great but I think they’re … what can I say … cute!