{"id":55934,"date":"2019-02-04T06:27:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T13:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55934"},"modified":"2024-07-22T19:09:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T00:09:43","slug":"adult-sandhill-crane-at-the-edge-of-a-summer-storm-in-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/04\/adult-sandhill-crane-at-the-edge-of-a-summer-storm-in-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Sandhill Crane At The Edge Of A Summer Storm In Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SandhillSandhill Crane at the edge of a storm – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I was looking for an older image I had taken to create a birthday card for a friend and somehow ended up in an incorrect folder for the image I had in mind. While I was in that folder I took a quick look through it and the images I had taken on that day and came across this photo and wondered why I had never processed it before. So I quickly went to the actual folder I was looking for, edited the image, created the birthday card, shared it and then came back to this file.<\/p>\n

I was drawn to this photo because of the light on the Sandhill Crane and the grasses it was foraging in plus how that contrasts with the dark shadows on the mountains behind the bird. I recall that a summer storm was moving in and that the clouds from that storm had caused the shadows on the mountainside behind the hill the crane was on. The crane didn’t stick around long so I am glad I took a few images of it when I did. This photo was taken in June of 2013.<\/p>\n

Seeing this photo reminded me that before too long the cranes will be migrating and I will be seeing them here again in northern Utah. I checked eBird and saw that there have been a few sightings of Sandhill Cranes in Utah already this year and that Ouray National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> has quite a few of the cranes being seen in the past month. I can’t wait to see, hear and photograph them again.<\/p>\n

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 was drawn to this photo because of the light on the Sandhill Crane and the grasses it was foraging in plus how that contrasts with the dark shadows on the mountains behind the bird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131130,"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":[1513,27,223,12,608,450],"tags":[4004,4259,4101,3823,3132,4136,4537,4204,6954,4518,4949,4677,165,4500,5434],"class_list":["post-55934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-sandhill-cranes","tag-adult","tag-antigone-canadensis","tag-clouds","tag-crane","tag-cranes","tag-foraging","tag-grassland","tag-light","tag-sandhill","tag-sandhill-crane","tag-sandhills","tag-shadows","tag-spring","tag-storm","tag-valley"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sandhill-crane-edge-of-storm-mia-mcpherson-1857.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eya","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6643,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/25\/sandhill-crane-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":55934,"position":0},"title":"Sandhill Crane at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So, each time we see or hear Sandhill Cranes we are listening to and looking at a real living fossil.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandhill Crane at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-montana-mia-mcpherson-4506.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-montana-mia-mcpherson-4506.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-montana-mia-mcpherson-4506.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-montana-mia-mcpherson-4506.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140782,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/25\/an-immature-sandhill-crane-visits-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":55934,"position":1},"title":"An Immature Sandhill Crane Visits Sequoyah National Wildlife 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-immature-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-4808.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-immature-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-4808.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9591,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/09\/26\/stained-and-unstained-sandhill-cranes\/","url_meta":{"origin":55934,"position":2},"title":"Stained and Unstained Sandhill Cranes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Unstained adult Sandhill Crane at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-autumn-mia-mcpherson-7656.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-adult-autumn-mia-mcpherson-7656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-autumn-mia-mcpherson-7656.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-autumn-mia-mcpherson-7656.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":111112,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/13\/communing-with-sandhill-cranes\/","url_meta":{"origin":55934,"position":3},"title":"Communing With Sandhill Cranes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been thinking a lot about Sandhill Cranes recently so I am going back in time to nine years ago today when I photographed them in Wayne County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area"","block_context":{"text":"Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bicknell-bottoms-wildlife-management-area\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandhill Cranes dancing in a farmer's field, Bicknell Bottoms, Wayne County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sandhill-cranes-spring-wayne-county-mia-mcpherson-5057.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sandhill-cranes-spring-wayne-county-mia-mcpherson-5057.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sandhill-cranes-spring-wayne-county-mia-mcpherson-5057.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sandhill-cranes-spring-wayne-county-mia-mcpherson-5057.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40422,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/09\/new-genus-for-sandhill-cranes\/","url_meta":{"origin":55934,"position":4},"title":"New Genus for Sandhill Cranes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Another change that has officially occurred was that Sandhill Cranes were moved from the genus Grus to Antigone.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mated pair of Sandhill Cranes in flight, Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area, Wayne County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandhill-cranes-flight-bicknell-mia-mcpherson-6669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandhill-cranes-flight-bicknell-mia-mcpherson-6669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandhill-cranes-flight-bicknell-mia-mcpherson-6669.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandhill-cranes-flight-bicknell-mia-mcpherson-6669.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115246,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/18\/kamas-valley-sandhill-crane-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":55934,"position":5},"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 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55934","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=55934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}