Whitewater Draw at Dawn

[Bill Dix]

Unlike the massive blast-off at the Bosque, the thousands of Sandhill Cranes wintering at Whitewater Draw (AZ) fly out each morning before sunrise in small skeins, heading 20 miles north to feed in corn stubble before returning to the Draw at mid-day. Here's a small group of them, one of many that passed by before the sun came up. Cropped to pano.

D7000, 18-70 @ 70mm, ISO 2000, 1/320s @ f/5.6 manual.

[Pao Dolina]

Lovely Bill. :)

[Jonathan Ashton]

The early bird gets the worm Bill - gorgeous colours and I like the composition. Although the cranes are small they look good with the super sky behind, the small shrubs in the foreground add interest too. Looks like a well thought out image to me.

[John Robinson]

Very nice indeed !A great wall pic I reckon.
Good stuff
John

[James Salywoda]

Beautifully captured such a pleasing image to look at.

[gail bisson]

Really nice colors in this image. Nice to see a pretty birdscape like this.
I would like a sliver more on the bottom to anchor the image ,
Gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely image. I like the colors and composition, wonderful sunrise. Thank you for sharing.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Extraordinarily beautiful image, Bill. Nicely silhouetted SACR and foreground in the warmth of the clouds. Well done.




Geoffrey

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, nicely thought out, and with a gorgeous cloudscape. I love that line of cranes. I too would have liked more at bottom, but it looks like that would have introduced unwanted elements.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks everyone. Yes, Gail, I would have liked a bit more at the bottom; and yes, Daniel, that would have produced unwanted elements. I cropped where I did because of some distracting foreground stuff. I suppose I could clone in a little more base, but left it as is. I appreciate your comments.