The alarm went off at 06:00, 90min before sunrise. It was still dark outside but the bright full moon gave some hint of who was still on the river. Around 02:30 there was a lift off from the river. Didn’t see it, heard it! More than likely a predator like a coyote made an stab at a free meal which set the flock into the skies. Since I didn’t hear them come back, I was wondering if we’d wake to an empty river. It’s happened before, it’s part of the gamble of spending the night in the blind. At least this night, got some sleep since we didn’t have to deal with a leaky blind in a rain storm.
With as much stealth as we could muster, we crawled out of our sleeping bags, got everything packed back up so we have space to set up camera gear and get ready to work. Oh, what a cup of hot coffee would do right now. Wait, no, been locked in the box for 14hrs, scratch that thought! Around 06:30 there is a hint of the coming day so I peaked out of the blind. The cranes, they are still there! Not nearly as many as we had at sunset but as I like to remind folks when shooting critters, it just takes one to make your day! So with that glimpse, the window gets closed and camera gear assembled.
With some stiffness, I get the D4s / 800mm mounted on the Gitzo. With it in place, chair ready and bundled up in everything I had with me, the window was opened and you can see the view above. While a long lens helps, the subject has to be physically close to make it all work. As I scan around, I see birds everywhere and they were the closest we’d ever had, but still not that magical distance we desired. Then as the light brighten the flock began to move as they often do. Then some birds flew in and they were right in front of our blind. This was a first and the closet we’d ever had the Sandhills to our lenses. Mark & I looked at each other with big smiles. The day had started on the right note, hope awakened!