Sandhill Crane "Dance"

[david cramer]

Young males are frequently taking measure of one another, and engage in a challenge dance that is fun to watch.



Early morning light. D300 with 400mm 2.8, f/11, 1/1250, iso 400, ev -0.67

[Doug Brown]

Great interaction David, and I love the pose of the crane on the right. About the only thing I'd like to see is a bit more eye contact with the bird on the left.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely light and pose , especially the bird on the right. Opening your aperture more would have rendered a more OOF BG. f11 is probably more DOF than you needed to cover the birds as they seem pretty much in the same plane.

[david cramer]

Thanks, Doug and Tony. After looking at this more it could probably also use a haircut, trim a bit off the top.

Thanks for the suggestion, Tony. The birds were hoping around quite a bit and not always on the same plane - so I took the safer approach, knowing I can blur the bg more if needed.

[Fabs Forns]

Thanks for explaining the behavior, David. I always thought it was a courtship dance. This is what the young Rams do too, then :)

Beautiful image to boot too.

[david cramer]

Much appreciated, Fabs. The courtship dance is very similar, and involves picking up sticks and stalks and tossing them, all in an effort to impress a female. I guess that two males challenging each other can also be viewed as part of courtship, particularly if an available female is nearby.