ericbowles
01-10-2010, 07:22 PM
I visited the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge today for the third time in the last 6 weeks and wanted to share an update.
For those not familiar with HWR, it is a prime stopover for migrating sandhill cranes and occasional whooping cranes. It is also a good spot for bald eagles, many different types of ducks, and other small birds. Here is a link:
http://www.tnbirds.org/IBA/SitePages/Hiwasee.htm (http://www.tnbirds.org/IBA/SitePages/Hiwasee.htm)
On today's visit I saw more than 3500 sandhill cranes and one whooping crane. Cranes were at distances of 125 yards and further. The water in the main pond was 90% frozen, so the cranes started the day scattered around the fields and on the sandbars in the river. Normally they start nearby and scatter to the fields by 11:00 AM. Luckily today they came to a couple of fields near the main viewing area with lots of chances for interesting images. I was mainly shooting from 200mm to 560mm on a DX body with a 1.5 crop factor. A little more reach is always nice.
For those not familiar with HWR, it is a prime stopover for migrating sandhill cranes and occasional whooping cranes. It is also a good spot for bald eagles, many different types of ducks, and other small birds. Here is a link:
http://www.tnbirds.org/IBA/SitePages/Hiwasee.htm (http://www.tnbirds.org/IBA/SitePages/Hiwasee.htm)
On today's visit I saw more than 3500 sandhill cranes and one whooping crane. Cranes were at distances of 125 yards and further. The water in the main pond was 90% frozen, so the cranes started the day scattered around the fields and on the sandbars in the river. Normally they start nearby and scatter to the fields by 11:00 AM. Luckily today they came to a couple of fields near the main viewing area with lots of chances for interesting images. I was mainly shooting from 200mm to 560mm on a DX body with a 1.5 crop factor. A little more reach is always nice.