Thousands Upon Thousands

It was forecast to be a cloudless sunrise so I took a drive out to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge to photograph the sandhill cranes this morning.  Oddly, all the birds remained distant.  I visited both the bird blinds but even with the 500mm I couldn't get anything but "crowd" shots.

Oh well.  It's a wonderful experience, even if I didn't get the pictures I wanted.  There are thousands upon thousands of sandhill cranes there in the winter.  (Check the dates before visiting.)  There are so many, you almost don't notice the place is teeming with other wildlife.

As usual, the best pictures come with the best light.  This is at the fishing dock, across the highway — on the north side — from the Visitor's Center.  The Sun was just hitting the trees and giving the water the brown glow, but it hadn't made it to the birds yet.  You know me, I'm all about the color.

Nikon D7200 — Nikon 200-500 F5.6 ED VR

500mm

F5.6@1/640th

ISO 1,000

Cropped

ROD_4736.JPG

©Don Brown 2025