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Archive 2015 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

sumtiw
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Hello everyone,

In the month of April, my professor from college and I decided to go to Rowe Sanctuary in Nebraska to photograph Sandhill cranes. We are in Northern Colorado and it was a good 7-8 hours drive for us. I posted a thread here asking about which lens should I rent. After many of you suggested 800mm, I went with it and I am glad that I did.

We were put in a plywood photo bling which was about 5ft x 8ftx 6ft in size. These blinds have a few windows to shoot from. They are right on the bank of Platte river. Sandhill cranes eat leftover corn in the nearby fields and as the evening unfolds, they all accumulate in the river.
We were locked in the photo blind for the night. Only in case of an emergency we could call the authorities to be taken out. We were given porta-potties.
Cranes came in very late. It was too dark to photograph them but I still tried. Most of the photos that I made were taken in the morning hours. They kept coming and going in the morning hours. We left at about 9AM or so from the photo blind.
Here are some of the photos that I thought were presentable. It was my first time handling an 800mm on a 1Dx so I am sure the pictures are not as good as others being posted here.

Photos that were taken during the evening hours:

1#

Photos that were taken next morning:
3#

10#

An action sequence:
11#

12#

13#

I am yet to process the ones I took a little later in the day. I will post those once I am done processing.
Any comments, suggestions or criticism would be much appreciated

Thanks for looking,
Sumer.

Aug 17, 2015 at 10:32 PM

jeetsukumaran
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Wow. Great stuff. #1 and #2 stand out for me. The first is fine art art, and there is something extremely attractive in the pose/composition/orientation of the pair in #2.

Aug 17, 2015 at 11:28 PM

sumtiw
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

jeetsukumaran wrote:
Wow. Great stuff. #1 and #2 stand out for me. The first is fine art art, and there is something extremely attractive in the pose/composition/orientation of the pair in #2.

Thanks, Jeet. #2 is my personal favorite too. Despite it being so grainy, I like it.

Aug 18, 2015 at 08:43 AM

birdied
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Lovely set! The early morning light is beautiful .

Birdie

Aug 18, 2015 at 08:52 AM

Carolyn681
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Enjoyed your images and your description of your setup. The effort certainly produced results. Thanks for posting.

Carolyn

Aug 18, 2015 at 09:07 AM

sumtiw
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

birdied wrote:
Lovely set! The early morning light is beautiful .

Birdie

Thank you, Birdie. Really appreciate your comment.

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Carolyn681 wrote:
Enjoyed your images and your description of your setup. The effort certainly produced results. Thanks for posting.

Carolyn

Thanks for your appreciative comment, Carolyn.

Aug 18, 2015 at 09:26 PM

sumtiw
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Here are some more photos that I made a little later in the morning at about 8 or 9AM. Sun was becoming harsher every minute:

1

A flying sequence:
10

Thanks for looking. I hope you enjoyed the photos

Aug 18, 2015 at 09:33 PM

morris
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11 and last stand our from this very strong set Sumer

Morris

Aug 18, 2015 at 09:35 PM

kmunroe
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

great set Sumer.. i enjoyed them all

Aug 19, 2015 at 02:57 AM

runakid
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

I too enjoyed your efforts and the results were wonderful.

Aug 19, 2015 at 05:52 AM

JGmaynard
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Excellent set. The blue in images 10 thru 17 is really nice.

Aug 20, 2015 at 07:01 AM

Sharona
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Wonderful Sumer! Did you use the 800 for all of these? I am from Nebraska and head out to see the cranes as often as possible on spring weekends. I rented the 800 as well this year, and did an overnight blind up river at the Crane Trust! I had the unfortunate circumstance of being too tall to stand properly and too short to sit so I didn't get a lot of keepers, but isn't it a fabulous experience to be out there all night with the cranes? Glad you enjoyed it and you got a lot of wonderful images. The sun does become a factor very quickly here in the mornings, I can totally relate.

All best,
Sharon

Aug 20, 2015 at 01:30 PM

sumtiw
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

morris wrote:
1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11 and last stand our from this very strong set Sumer

Morris

Thank you, Morris. I am glad you liked some images.

---------------------------------------------

kmunroe wrote:
great set Sumer.. i enjoyed them all
Thank you

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runakid wrote:
I too enjoyed your efforts and the results were wonderful.

---------------------------------------------

JGmaynard wrote:
Excellent set. The blue in images 10 thru 17 is really nice.
I like that blue in that sequence too. The way they take off is amazing. They need a long runway to take off. Their wingspan is about 6-7 feet.
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Sharona wrote:
Wonderful Sumer! Did you use the 800 for all of these? I am from Nebraska and head out to see the cranes as often as possible on spring weekends. I rented the 800 as well this year, and did an overnight blind up river at the Crane Trust! I had the unfortunate circumstance of being too tall to stand properly and too short to sit so I didn't get a lot of keepers, but isn't it a fabulous experience to be out there all night with the cranes? Glad you enjoyed it and you got a lot of wonderful images....Show more →
Thanks, Sharon. Yeah, I used 800 for all of these. My professor who was with me had a 600 and I also had my 70-200 but these birds did not give us any time to swap the lenses. Yeah, those blinds can be uncomfortable if you are taller than about 5-6 ft height. It was just amazing to sleep between the noises and calls. Sun became too harsh just at about 9AM or so.
At Rowe sanctuary they have done a great job though. I loved being out there and plan to do it again, next year.

Aug 20, 2015 at 04:24 PM

morris
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

morris wrote:
1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11 and last stand our from this very strong set Sumer

Morris

Thank you, Morris. I am glad you liked some images

I liked them all, the ones I called out are my favorites. They are all very good

Aug 20, 2015 at 06:40 PM

Herb Houghton
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Very nice set of sandhill cranes. I wish they were posted larger.

Aug 21, 2015 at 03:46 AM

uintaangler
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Locked in the blind?
Is that typical when shooting the Cranes in Nebraska?

Apr 27, 2016 at 04:08 PM

KCollett
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Very nice set Sumer. I quite like #1 in the second batch. Well done.

Apr 27, 2016 at 06:23 PM

morris
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Lovely set, the first and 11 are my picks

Morris

Apr 27, 2016 at 07:22 PM

surfnron
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

A very nice set Sumer ~ Ron

Apr 27, 2016 at 09:49 PM

thomas_1950
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Sandhill cranes in Platte River, Nebraska

Splendid set Sumer and nice job Sumer

Apr 28, 2016 at 02:47 AM

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