Today’s post concludes the first evening I spent in a Rowe Sanctuary blind on the Platte River in Nebraska, photographing Sandhill Cranes as they returned to the river for overnight roosting. If you missed the previous two posts from this blind, you can find them here:
As time moved past sunset, the sky exhibited some wonderful colors. At the same time, cranes began “falling from the sky” much closer to the blind I was in. Here are a few of my favorite images captured during this timeframe:
At times, it seemed that someone needed to call Air Traffic Control for assistance:
Three evenings later, I spent another evening in this blind on the Platte River. During that evening, there was a strong cold front moving in from the northwest and winds were strong … up to 45-50 mph. This made it interesting as the strong winds were blowing so much dust around, there was no really colorful sunset. However, this resulted in some wonderful photo opportunities with a bright, golden sun. I’ll share some of those images in upcoming posts.
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 body
- Canon EF 100-400mm, f/4.5-5.6 IS lens, with Canon 1.4x TC, shot at 560mm
- Bogen 3221 tripod, with Giottos ballhead, captured from a blind on the river
- ISO 5000 (all photos)
- Aperture f/9 (all photos)
- Shutter 1/125 sec. to 1/250 sec.