Antigone canadensis
Sandhill Cranes are large, tall gray birds with very long legs, long necks, and a straight bill. Adults have light cheeks and a red crown.
The Sandhill Crane colts at Farmington Bay are as tall as their parents and look just like them except for the markings on their head and the color of their bills and eyes.
Yesterday I posted a juvenile Wilson's Phalarope and today I am posting an assortment of others birds I photographed the same day at Bear River NWR.
I always think of Sandhill Cranes whenever my thoughts drift to the Centennial Valley of Montana where I always hear their calls, see them in the fields or in flight over the marshes.
Last night I only had dreams about Sandhill Cranes but it won't be long before I will be seeing and hearing them for real. I can barely wait.
I was delighted to find quite a few Sandhill Cranes in the Centennial Valley of Montana last week and this pair was close enough to photograph.
In March of this year I spent several days photographing Sandhill Cranes in southern Utah where the light and the weather could rapidly change.
I am keeping it simple this morning with a lone Sandhill Crane in flight over Wayne County that I photographed about two weeks ago while in southern Utah.
I am back from wandering, camping and photographing in several counties in southern Utah where I was delighted to find some Sandhill Cranes to photograph in Wayne County, Utah.
A few days ago I saw quite a few Sandhill Cranes starting at just past the Visitors Center for Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, in one of the farmer's fields I saw 11 of them feeding in the freshly tilled soil.
This time of the year I start dreaming about the Centennial Valley of Montana and of the birds that call the valley home during the summer.
So, each time we see or hear Sandhill Cranes we are listening to and looking at a real living fossil.
These are just a small selection of the cast and characters of the upcoming Spring Season