I was going to make a great joke about how the cranes wouldn't accept our invitation to coffee and became upwardly mobile (flew away), but they're so beautiful, no jokes needed.
As most of our days start - "Where do you want to go today?" "Oh let's go to the Lamar Valley!" "Oh that's great!" That's where we go everyday BTW, and there's always a new drama in the Lamar Valley or at least on the way to the Lamar Valley
Today it was the upwardly mobile cranes! A friend had told us there were some about, and we knew that they had a nest in the Floating Island pond, and sure enough, there they were!
Walt spotted them from the road, and I don't know how cause they are perfectly camouflaged in this grass...probably why they were there.
They are such elegant birds. Walt took this succession of shots just as they were taking off, and I'm sure you know this but his lens is like a magnifying glass so we were not this close to the birds!
Sandhill Cranes can come in two adult colors, some are "stained" due to preening with muddy bills. Cranes may stain their feathers of upper back, lower neck and breast with ferrous solution in the mud.
It may take a couple of flaps to get started....
but once they do, they are beautiful in flight.
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