Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill cranes have been on my radar to photograph for a while, but it’s either been the wrong time of year, or I’ve been unable to go and find them. This year, however, I researched and planned a trip to Staten Island (the Californian one) to look for them, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Sandhill cranes migrate along the Pacific Flyway, arriving in the Central Valley in the fall. They’ve existed for over two million years, so by comparison, humans are the novelty here. Almost as soon as I arrived, I could hear their ancient calls, but I was stunned when I realized how many were there. I noticed a couple wading through the wetlands and a few more in a field. And then some coming in to land, and more in the sky. The more I looked, the more I saw. There were thousands!

It wasn’t just cranes, either. There were cackling geese by the thousand and lots of tundra swans. They were all new species for me, so I had a lot of fun photographing them even if I couldn’t get particularly close. When the sun started to set, though, things got interesting. The sky turned a winter’s pink and then fiery orange and red. Endless groups came in to roost for the evening, silhouetted against the sky, looking quite majestic. I could have photographed them all night.