The Sandhill crane images are from a visit to the Nebraska's Platte River valley in 2017. More than 80 percent of the world’s population of sandhill cranes converge here yearly.
I had made arrangements to visit a bird blind along the river in the early morning (we had to be on-site and in the blind by 5AM). The cranes sleep in the river because it offers protection from predators. After walking for 1/2 of a mile without flashlights we entered a blind that was even darker than the just completed walk.
The guide whispered: no talking and directed to setup our tripods and adjust our cameras using small flashlights, as the front windows of the blind were closed. A little later, the guide opened the front windows to a view of total darkness. But the noise of thousands of cranes somewhere in front of us.
As the light of day began to brighten the sky there was a collaborated "OMG" from the dozen of photographers sharing the blind with me. Directly before us were literately thousands of Sandhill cranes slowing waking up. Soon, everyone was taking pictures, reviewing them (all but one photographer had a digital camera), adjusting our settings as the sun brighten the sky.
We were in the blind for nearly three hours. Each photographer took hundreds of images. The question I got asked the most when I returned was: "was it worth it?"
YES!
