Sandhill Crane colt born

Above: I love this shot of the Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) colt born this week, covered in mud. The little guy runs to keep up with his mother.



Above: Here the pair look after the one colt. I believe the other colt died or the egg has not yet hatched as they left the nest for some time this afternoon. These images were made with a 1,000 mm lens (40 inch) from a distance of a little over 1/2 mile (1 kilometer).



Above and Below: I like both of these less-than-perfect shots. One for all the hat pins the birds are walking through. . . the other for the interloping White Ibis (Eudocimus alba). Because of the long lens the ibis wasn't as close to the cranes as he appears in this shot.



Below: The male Sandhill scares off a Great Egret (Ardea alba) and a White Ibis that were too close to the nest. This makes me think that perhaps there is another colt in the nest or another egg that has yet to hatch. Sandhill Cranes lay two eggs and normally one of the young survives.



Sis and I watched the activity around the bird's nest for a long time this afternoon from a shady spot far away and above the dry lake bed where the birds are nesting. The lake is currently about 8-feet (2 1/2 meters) lower than normal. . . or virtually dry.

Click on any of these images for a larger view. To see more shots of the Sandhills go to Phillip's Natural World II