{"id":104206,"date":"2022-07-14T04:20:51","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T10:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=104206"},"modified":"2022-07-14T04:21:39","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T10:21:39","slug":"solitary-sandhill-crane-foraging-in-a-pasture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/14\/solitary-sandhill-crane-foraging-in-a-pasture\/","title":{"rendered":"Solitary Sandhill Crane Foraging In A Pasture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SandhillSandhill Crane foraging in a pasture \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took this adult Sandhill Crane photo earlier this week as the crane foraged for food in a grassy horse pasture high up in the Wasatch Mountains. Sandhill Cranes mate for life and their lifespan can be as long as 36 years.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the year there were two adult Sandhill Cranes<\/span><\/a> in this area. They used to call, display, fly past and feed together in their summer mountain home. Then one of them disappeared.<\/p>\n

The story of why this Sandhill Crane is alone now is a mystery. Did the other crane perish? Was it attacked by a predator? Did the other crane leave because the pair didn’t nest successfully?<\/p>\n

I just don’t know. What I do know it has been several weeks since I saw the pair together.<\/p>\n

Because this crane was by itself I admit that I feel for it even when simply looking at this image.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because usually I see Sandhill Cranes as mated pairs on their breeding grounds.<\/p>\n

As I observed and photographed this Sandhill Crane I couldn’t help but wonder if it felt alone. Or if it misses the sound of its mate calling.<\/p>\n

I’ll never know.<\/p>\n

As a human I know I miss the sound of the voices of the people I love and care about, both those who are alive and those no longer with us. Their presence whether exciting, comforting or both is missed.<\/p>\n

Maybe some people might see this as much ado about something simple. My thoughts about it is that I am as much as part of nature as this Sandhill Crane is and if I feel what I do maybe the crane does too.<\/p>\n

Just a few thoughts on a Thursday morning. Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Sandhill Crane photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took this adult Sandhill Crane photo earlier this week as the crane foraged for food in a grassy horse pasture high up in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,450,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,4259,3940,3823,3132,4286,4136,3747,4109,6915,4069,5691,4518,7095,2359,2315],"class_list":["post-104206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-sandhill-cranes","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-antigone-canadensis","tag-canyon","tag-crane","tag-cranes","tag-eating","tag-foraging","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-lone","tag-mountains","tag-pasture","tag-sandhill-crane","tag-solitary","tag-stained","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sandhill-crane-adult-pasture-mia-mcpherson-5063.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-r6K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":115246,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/18\/kamas-valley-sandhill-crane-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":104206,"position":0},"title":"Kamas Valley Sandhill Crane Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, on the way to the Uinta Mountains, April Olson and I looked for birds in the Kamas Valley. That's where I took these Sandhill Crane photos.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Sandhill Crane in grassy field in Kamas Valley, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/sandhill-crane-kamas-mia-mcpherson-8104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/sandhill-crane-kamas-mia-mcpherson-8104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/sandhill-crane-kamas-mia-mcpherson-8104.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/sandhill-crane-kamas-mia-mcpherson-8104.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While up in the mountains yesterday morning I was thrilled to take a series of female and male Sandhill Crane portraits as they fed in a pasture next to the road.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandhill Crane female portrait, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sandhill-crane-adult-close-up-female-mia-mcpherson-7374.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sandhill-crane-adult-close-up-female-mia-mcpherson-7374.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sandhill-crane-adult-close-up-female-mia-mcpherson-7374.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago, I was lucky enough to photograph an uncommon visitor to Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge\u2014an immature Sandhill Crane I spotted in a field.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Sandhill Crane at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-immature-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-4808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-immature-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-4808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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The calling crane was in flight, way off in the distance.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Long distance Sandhill Crane in flight, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/sandhill-crane-long-distance-mia-mcpherson-8643.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/sandhill-crane-long-distance-mia-mcpherson-8643.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/sandhill-crane-long-distance-mia-mcpherson-8643.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/sandhill-crane-long-distance-mia-mcpherson-8643.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}