Sandhill Crane Takeoff Sequence - Bosque del Apache NWR

While culling the photos I added to my Lightroom catalog after an outing to the Bosque del Apache NWR in December 2021, I found many unprocessed photos taken at Bosque in January 2018. I think they were ignored and forgotten because of the chaos associated with becoming full time residents of Colorado in December 2017 after selling our house in Florida.

Sandhill Crane - Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico - January 12, 2018

The 12 shots in the gallery shown below are part of one takeoff sequence. The interval between the first and last shot was 7 seconds.

Nikon D500, 300mm f//4 + 1.4x teleconverter
1/3200 sec at f/7.1, ISO 360-500

Click on any image in the gallery to see a larger version or click on the first image and use the right arrow to view larger versions of each image in the sequence in order.




David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.