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Thursday, I finally felt healed up enough to go try to shoot something. So, I took the day off and headed to Hiwassee Refuge, where I'd been planning to go the past two weekends, but couldn't after the accident. Hiwassee is located in Dayton, TN and is the winter home of thousands upon thousands of migrating sandhill cranes. It's a sight to behold when they are all there--unfortunately, full access to the refuge closes on Nov. 15, until the first of March. So you can only view them from the observation deck, and as Scott (SCraig) and I discovered last year, that is WAY too far away for many good pictures.
So--I was determined to get there on Thursday, the last day of full access, and I was praying that a few early arrivers would be there. When I first got there, I heard NOTHING. Which was a bad sign, because Sandhill Cranes make NOISE, a lot of it. However, as I walked out toward the water, I could see that there were, indeed, a few cranes at the edge of the water--maybe a dozen.
About thirty minutes later, though, the cranes began arriving in droves. Hundreds of them flying overhead, landing at the water or over one of the nearby hills, making their weirdly interesting sound. It was an amazing sight and well worth the VERY sore chest and shoulder I was rewarded with the next day!
Unfortunately--my Sigma lens seems to have gotten jostled a bit too much in the wreck and I had terrible focusing issues with it. I had way, WAY more shots OOF than in-, and of course even fewer that were "keepers." But it was still tremendous fun!
1. Sandhills on the Shore
2. Two by Two (although sometimes, they flew alone--sometimes in groups of four, and sometimes in groups too big to count!)
3. Sandhill Fly-By--this is the shot I waited nearly a YEAR to get. It's the kind of shot I'd hoped to get when Scott and I visited the refuge last January, but they never got this close to the observation deck.
4. Just Hold It A Little Longer--"Ooooh, let's land SOON, guys, I gotta go pee!" :lmao:
5. Sparrow on the Corn. Because the sparrows needed some attention too.
6. Sparrow 2
As always--general comments, C&C, and witty banter are appreciated!
So--I was determined to get there on Thursday, the last day of full access, and I was praying that a few early arrivers would be there. When I first got there, I heard NOTHING. Which was a bad sign, because Sandhill Cranes make NOISE, a lot of it. However, as I walked out toward the water, I could see that there were, indeed, a few cranes at the edge of the water--maybe a dozen.
About thirty minutes later, though, the cranes began arriving in droves. Hundreds of them flying overhead, landing at the water or over one of the nearby hills, making their weirdly interesting sound. It was an amazing sight and well worth the VERY sore chest and shoulder I was rewarded with the next day!
Unfortunately--my Sigma lens seems to have gotten jostled a bit too much in the wreck and I had terrible focusing issues with it. I had way, WAY more shots OOF than in-, and of course even fewer that were "keepers." But it was still tremendous fun!
1. Sandhills on the Shore
2. Two by Two (although sometimes, they flew alone--sometimes in groups of four, and sometimes in groups too big to count!)
3. Sandhill Fly-By--this is the shot I waited nearly a YEAR to get. It's the kind of shot I'd hoped to get when Scott and I visited the refuge last January, but they never got this close to the observation deck.
4. Just Hold It A Little Longer--"Ooooh, let's land SOON, guys, I gotta go pee!" :lmao:
5. Sparrow on the Corn. Because the sparrows needed some attention too.
6. Sparrow 2
As always--general comments, C&C, and witty banter are appreciated!
