morning at Whitewater Draw

This morning, I was treated to the full sandhill crane experience at Whitewater Draw. When I arrived  by the water's edge at 6:15, all of the birds were in the pond, where they stay overnight for protection. Soon, groups of them moved onto the shore. It was lovely watching the sunrise in the east as a full moon set in the west. 

For more than an hour, wave after wave of them took off until only maybe a hundred of the 20,000 remained; it's hard to photograph them in the air as they fly away from the viewing area. These pics look quite serene, but they talk constantly, so the area is actually quite noisy. They spend the next few hours feeding out in the fields. 



After breakfast & getting organized to move in the afternoon, I went back down to the pond. About 10:40, the flock of snow geese all came in at once, circled overhead a couple of times, & all landed together - fantastic! There wasn't one crane n the area.

                                        

The cranes came first in a few small groups...


...then in waves as far as the eye could see...



Watching them land was mesmerizing.  



Within a bit over an hour, the brown desert soil was again gray with cranes. 

Wow!


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