Sunday, January 3, 2010

Sandhill Cranes Part II


Sweetie and I got home yesterday and realized that we hadn't quite found the perfect vantage point for seeing the cranes. So, after a bit more research, we ventured out again this afternoon. We first drove down across a bridge, and turned into a curious little village. If you want to know more about that, you'll just have to ask me.

We eventually reached our planned destination, but there were too many trees in the way. Sweetie scrambled down an embankment slightly, but then the 1000+ cranes all flew up and relocated further up the lake (someone assured us the cranes were NOT skittish...).

So, we rumbled back to the car in the zero-degree windchill weather. And headed back to the state park and our original vantage point on New Year's Day.

We eyed the mudflats, and having heard yesterday that someone else had walked across them, we decided to try. I had my long camera lens and its teleconverter. So, it was worth trying to get closer. We made our way down the mudflats and looked north to find a suitable crossing point (ie: one that did not involve crossing 20 feet of thin ice). We eventually made out way to within about 60 yards or so of the cranes. The low light made picture-taking challenging, and as I told Sweetie, there was NO WAY I was dragging my tripod out there and setting it up. As it was, I think we were mildly hypothermic, certainly I was, by the time we made it back to the car.

At any rate, it was an incredible site to be so close to thousands of cranes. At one point, they started flying around up above us and their sound is so distinctive. Truly a New Year's to remember!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year

Today, Sweetie and I drove about 25 minutes south of our house to a lake where we heard cranes had been hanging out the past week or so.  I wasn't sure they would still be there.  It was bitterly cold, but sunny, and after driving cluelessly around a state park that we had never been to before, we finally found what appeared to be the "mud flats" that people who had seen the cranes had referred to.  

So, we got out of the car, and Sweetie stopped and said, "Listen."  We heard birds.  And they weren't geese.  We walked down a short path.  And heard more birds.  Then I looked up.  And saw them.  Hundreds.  They were flying into the mudflats for the night.  They kept coming.  There were about 1,000 in all.  It's very good luck in Japan to see cranes on New Year's Day.  

It was incredible!!!