Dec 2017 - Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge: As they say, what a difference a year makes ... Below are some images from a return trip to the Bosque del Apache National...

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

As they say, what a difference a year makes ...

Below are some images from a return trip to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, along the Rio Grande about an hour south of Albuquerque. Everything was captured with an EOS 5D III, EF 300 f/2.8L IS II and EF 2.0x III (600mm configuration). I lucked into finding initially snow geese in a corn field. They took off in mass and the cranes began rather quickly to fly in from another field. They were flying into the sun, directly or nearly directly over my position. The camera / lens were mounted to a gimbal head on a tripod.

The images are sized for wide screen display at 1600-pixels. If they overshoot your display, just click the image or the URL link and they'll resize to your screen from Flickr. You can click a bit further into the image details on the Flickr page, if desired. EXIF data is available from host Flickr page as well.

Sandhill Cranes by Paul Sager, on Flickr
HTTP://farm5.staticflickr.com/4729/25569246708_6ec19bdb2f_h.jpg

Sandhill Cranes
HTTP://farm5.staticflickr.com/4637/25569243278_53b9f7ab93_h.jpg

Snow Geese
HTTP://farm5.staticflickr.com/4734/27662138879_f6118fe3d5_h.jpg

Snow Geese
HTTP://farm5.staticflickr.com/4684/27662146399_7f00902b86_h.jpg

Sandhill Cranes
HTTP://farm5.staticflickr.com/4588/27662165939_3ca14ed13d_h.jpg

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Wow, a super set.

vonzip Loc: cape cod

Fantastic shots and tac sharp. Well done. vz

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Totally gorgeous ! Great light, sky and exposure 8-) .......thanks for sharing

Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

These are really quite nice! I used to live in Kearney Nebraska and we would see them by the hundreds of thousands every year. You will never forget the sound they make while flying.
What time of year were you at Bosque del Apache? We now live in southern Colorado about 4 hours from Albuquerque, so I could go see them again!

pesfls Loc: Oregon, USA

I used to feed my kids on a lot of snow goose meat. Maybe some don’t approve. So be it. Nowadays I shoot with a camera. Times change. But the sight of tens of thousands of them landing or taking off together remains a great memory. Nice work, I like it.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

pesfls wrote:

I used to feed my kids on a lot of snow goose meat. Maybe some don’t approve. So be it. Nowadays I shoot with a camera. Times change. But the sight of tens of thousands of them landing or taking off together remains a great memory. Nice work, I like it.

Thanks pesfls! I was to Bosque for two days, these images from the better day. The first day the geese were no where near me, although I could see after a mass launch from a distance and the sky was full of various flying Vs. I like roasted goose, but I've only experienced from the market. Glad you enjoyed!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Photolady2014 wrote:

These are really quite nice! I used to live in Kearney Nebraska and we would see them by the hundreds of thousands every year. You will never forget the sound they make while flying.
What time of year were you at Bosque del Apache? We now live in southern Colorado about 4 hours from Albuquerque, so I could go see them again!

Thank you Photolady2014! If you're interested in the Bosque del Apache, you should find their website and check the dates for the annual festival in early November each Fall. I've only been there in December, but I know the festival is a big deal. These images are from Dec 24, now just over a week ago. I've had others mention Nebraska as a place to see Sandhill Cranes and I've learned there's a place in northern Indiana they stop during migration so I don't have to fly all the way to New Mexico ... Glad you enjoyed!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

imagemeister wrote:

Totally gorgeous ! Great light, sky and exposure 8-) .......thanks for sharing

Thanks Larry! The weather forecast was for clouds, and I lucked into several hours of full sunlight ... I think there were more than 3000 files when I started culling. This year starting with Zone AF and checking my exposure and focus in breaks between the fly-bys, there were a lot more good results to chose from. Glad you enjoyed!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

vonzip wrote:

Fantastic shots and tac sharp. Well done. vz

Thank you vonzip! I wish every day had birds flying into the sun directly over my position ... But, I'll happily take 1 day out of the two I was at Bosque. Glad you enjoyed!

patmalone51 Loc: Washington, DC., Montgomery County, MD

Breathtaking, Paul. What a fantastic set of photos! Just out of curiosity I would love to see what a little spot dodging would do to bring out some detail on the underside of some of those wings.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

RichardTaylor wrote:

Wow, a super set.

Thanks Richard! A bit of BIF success can get to be addicting ... I was there a year ago and have been analyzing what didn't go well last time and trying to make corrections. Glad you enjoyed!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

patmalone51 wrote:

Breathtaking, Paul. What a fantastic set of photos! Just out of curiosity I would love to see what a little spot dodging would do to bring out some detail on the underside of some of those wings.

Thank you Pat! Interesting idea on more processing for the shadows. These are all near the minimum of processing in the sense they were converted from RAW via DPP with exposure and Noise processing from the Canon software. Then, white balance and blacks / whites updates in Lightroom. Then a final pass thru Topaz Denoise. I focused more on the white balance and keeping highlights and details than bringing out the shadows. I'll have to look at the wings and look for candidates for working on the shadows. Glad you enjoyed!

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

Super set Paul..well done.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Wow Paul, those are the best sandhill in flight photos I've ever seen!