This morning at the Hiwassee Refuge; sandhill cranes, fog and a bonus whooper!
Jan 20, 2017 19:24:54 #
Hubby (ggttc) and I went to the refuge this morning. It was warm but foggy and we had to wait a while until the fog lifted. There were several photographers from around Tennessee and Georgia who had heard there was a whooping crane there.
#1 and #2 shot by ggttc with Nikon D7100 with Tamron 150-600
#3 and #4 shot by sleepydrdr with Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-500
In shot #3 along the far bank you can see a whooping crane among the sandhills. She is bright white. She is one of the eastern group of whoopers, #6815 and her name is Quill. I have reported her sighting to the International Crane Foundation. I couldn't get her leg bands with the camera, but saw them with binoculars and someone else's spotting scope. There are about 100-105 eastern migrating whooping cranes, so seeing one is quite a treat. The International Crane Foundation local rep identified this bird. She was about a mile away from all of us today (or as ggttc says, in a different zip code), but we were still all thrilled.
Please see downloads for detail. Thanks for viewing!
#1 and #2 shot by ggttc with Nikon D7100 with Tamron 150-600
#3 and #4 shot by sleepydrdr with Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-500
In shot #3 along the far bank you can see a whooping crane among the sandhills. She is bright white. She is one of the eastern group of whoopers, #6815 and her name is Quill. I have reported her sighting to the International Crane Foundation. I couldn't get her leg bands with the camera, but saw them with binoculars and someone else's spotting scope. There are about 100-105 eastern migrating whooping cranes, so seeing one is quite a treat. The International Crane Foundation local rep identified this bird. She was about a mile away from all of us today (or as ggttc says, in a different zip code), but we were still all thrilled.
Please see downloads for detail. Thanks for viewing!
1. Just hanging out
(Download)
2. Solo flyer
(Download)
3. Misty morning with distant whooping crane
(Download)
4. A bank of fog rolling in; a raft of canvas back ducks on the left
(Download)
Jan 20, 2017 19:37:08 #
A really beautiful and enjoyable set! I double clicked each download and the close ups made viewing even more enjoyable! Thanks!
Jan 20, 2017 19:39:41 #
Swamp-Cork wrote:
A really beautiful and enjoyable set! I double clicked each download and the close ups made viewing even more enjoyable! Thanks!
Thanks so much, Swamp-Cork! We're glad you enjoyed them.
Jan 20, 2017 19:42:19 #
Gorgeous set, really liked the download on your fogbank shot.
How cool to see a Whooping Crane.
How cool to see a Whooping Crane.
Jan 20, 2017 19:43:14 #
BassmanBruce wrote:
Gorgeous set, really liked the download on your fogbank shot.
How cool to see a Whooping Crane.
How cool to see a Whooping Crane.
Thank you, BassmanBruce! I appreciate your kind remarks.
Jan 20, 2017 19:47:18 #
sleepydrdr wrote:
Hubby (ggttc) and I went to the refuge this mornin... (show quote)
Very lovely in download Sleepy
Jan 20, 2017 20:34:47 #
Jan 20, 2017 20:37:56 #
photophile wrote:
Very lovely in download Sleepy
Thanks, photophile! I appreciate you taking a look.
Jan 20, 2017 20:38:08 #
Jan 20, 2017 21:29:44 #
An outstanding group of images. All are very appealing, even though I could not be counted among the true bird enthusiasts. In this group I really like the last one, by far my favorite of the set.
Jan 20, 2017 21:46:39 #
They are all excellent shot. I've been following Whoopers for years. I went to Aransas by Rockport and from the observation tower, your shoot of the whooper is what we saw. I wasn't aware of any whoopers in Tennessee, Do you know if there is a permanent flock or is this one just a straggler?
Jan 21, 2017 06:12:11 #
tbell7D wrote:
An outstanding group of images. All are very appealing, even though I could not be counted among the true bird enthusiasts. In this group I really like the last one, by far my favorite of the set.
Thank you, tbell7D! I appreciate your kind comments. I'm glad you like them.
Jan 21, 2017 06:14:20 #
Jan 21, 2017 06:18:00 #
tramsey wrote:
They are all excellent shot. I've been following Whoopers for years. I went to Aransas by Rockport and from the observation tower, your shoot of the whooper is what we saw. I wasn't aware of any whoopers in Tennessee, Do you know if there is a permanent flock or is this one just a straggler?
Thanks, tramsey! This bird migrates from Wisconsin. Each year there are 2 or 3 sighted in this area, they hang out with the sandhills. The local guy has an antenna that can track the radio frequencies from their leg bands and he says that there have been two this year in the area, but the second one hasn't been sighted yet. Here's a rather poor pic I took just before Christmas when she was a little closer and she was able to be identified by her leg bands.
Jan 21, 2017 06:18:19 #
angler wrote:
Excellent set Sleepydrdr.
Thanks, angler! I appreciate it.
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