Sandhill Cranes Vocalizing at Kyburz Flat - Sierra County California

by Mike Lee

Title

Sandhill Cranes Vocalizing at Kyburz Flat - Sierra County California

Artist

Mike Lee

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photography

Description

Kyburz Flat near Truckee in Sierra County, California is a birdwatcher's paradise (at least in mid-May). The meadow and marsh area there is home to a great number of water and shore birds, including many sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis). While my wife and I were camped there, it was rare for 10 minutes of daylight to elapse without hearing them. If you've been around them, you can probably hear this photo — their calls carry quite a distance. This morning was clear and sunny, so I took a stroll down toward the marsh when this pair flew in and landed. I know they're a pair since they engaged in some (ahem) mating behavior shortly after landing. I was still too far from them to get good shots of that behavior, and I want to keep my portfolio PG anyway. However, I was eventually able to work my way fairly close to them for a few shots. As much as it is a birdwatching paradise, the wide openness of the area around the marsh makes it a bit challenging to close the distance for picture taking. In this case, the sun was still very low in the eastern sky, so I concentrated on staying directly "up-sun" from the birds and only moved when both of them had their heads down to graze. This seemed to do the trick and they never did fly off, although I think at this point they started seeing a weird guy silhouetted in the aforementioned sun and started making some racket about it.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘋𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘈 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘒𝘺𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘻 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘵.

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May 21st, 2025

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