Surrounded by Sandhills

We’re lucky to have many Sandhill cranes in my neighborhood.  They’re an endangered species and, to me, rather unusual.  They are very tall, almost 5 feet.  They generally walk slowly with their heads moving gracefully forward and back as they go.  We don’t seem them fly very often, but they can easily do so.  And they have a very distinctive warble.

crane 1

Shortly after receiving a digital SLR camera as a gift, a group of cranes moved through my front yard and I went outside to photograph them and to learn about my camera.  (Think large 35 mm style camera that creates digital images.)

I guess I startled them because they began slowly moving away, down the street to the right.

Sandhill crane. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

There were about nine of them altogether, but I never got all of them in one shot.

Sandhill cranes. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com
But then, something unusual began to happen.

Sandhill cranes. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

It seemed that they may have changed their minds about the direction they wanted to travel.

Sandhill cranes. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Sure enough, they turned around and started back toward me, moving right to left.

Sandhill cranes. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Sandhill cranes. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

I was standing in my driveway and they came closer and closer.  Because I had the camera up to my eye, I was slow to pick up on what was happening next.  The birds were now circling back around me to my left!  It was almost like they were curious.

Sandhill cranes. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

What was going on here?  They came extremely close and eventually, circled between me and my house.

Sandhill crane. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Now having turned 360 degrees back to their original direction, they traveled across my neighbor’s yard and continued on their way.

Sandhill cranes. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

This was all very unusual bird behavior.  The only thing I can figure is that they were attracted to the clicking shutter noise of my camera.  Maybe I’ll have to test that theory again one of these days.

I watched them a bit longer and captured this shot of several taking flight.

Sandhill cranes. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

They’re very majestic birds and I’m glad to have them in our neighborhood.

Ellen Lindner

5 Responses to Surrounded by Sandhills

  1. Ellen Lindner January 18, 2016 at 12:45 am #

    Test

  2. Sharon January 18, 2016 at 8:43 am #

    Fun pictures! I love Sandhill Cranes! What kind of camera did you get? I have a new one too (Canon 70D) that I’m trying to learn…very challenging but fun!

    • Ellen Lindner February 8, 2016 at 8:55 pm #

      Oh, Sharon, now you’re going to embarrass me because I don’t know the brand of camera I have. (It was a gift.) A spiffy digital SLR, big, with 1700 as part of the designation. How’s that? 🙂 Pathetic, I know. I’ll have to look at it again, so I can tell you what brand it is. Because of the size, I use it primarily for shooing my quilts, but hubby enjoys carrying it on vacations.

  3. debby January 21, 2016 at 11:38 am #

    Wow! What an adventure. I would love to just see a Sandhill crane, much less be surrounded by them. Great pictures, thanks for taking the time to share them.

  4. Ellen Lindner February 8, 2016 at 8:56 pm #

    Glad you enjoyed the photos, Debby.

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