crane

[low_delta]

I was out in the back yard, and I heard a really loud and large bird. I walked over to the neighboring field to see if I could see it. I didn't at first, but then found it. It was on the far side of the nearest field. I ran back to the house for my camera. I ran back to the field. I ran back the house for my CF card. I ran back to the field. I got only three pics, and this is the only one where you can see anything.

I think it's a sandhill crane. It was huge. Seven-foot wingspan, I'd guess. It looked like an emu, when it was grazing.



I've got to get a longer lens. This 80mm just isn't cutting it.

Comments

[i.livejournal.com]

a goose?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

No, a crane. (You must have read this about the time I edited the post.) I believe it was a sandhill crane, though they're grey, and this one looked brown. But I have seen pictures of them that looked brown, this one was far away, so could have been grayer then I thought.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

That's way better than what I can capture with our cameras. I love the different shades and the strip of dirt in the field.

Wow - it's so green. I just realized that the oak leaves finally, fully, popped out at our house. I was wondering why things seemed more green all of the sudden.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Oh - did it make that croaking call? That's the noise I associate with Sandhill cranes.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

The other night I heard a deep, croak or bark. I looked up to see a blue heron. This one was a more "musical" call - it had more of a tone. Still that really deep, big sound I associate with a big gullet. And loud. I first thought it was a lot closer than the far side of the field.

Since it was so warm this week (into the eighties a couple of days), things have really popped. All the leaves are out, the early flowers are fading fast, and everything else is budding.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

How many x's is your zoom? I have a 20 x optical on my digital camera and it is great!
I had a photo of a stork's nest in a recent post and I wasn't really near it at all.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I don't have X's in my zoom. It's an SLR, so it's just a 28 to 80mm zoom lens. Yours sounds pretty good, though, since our little camera is a 4x zoom.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I got my current camera last summer and what sold me on it were the optics and the zoom. So far it hasn't disappointed me and my zoom photos are clear and well-focused. I don't need a lot of fancy stuff but a good zoom is fundamental (for me).

Can you get a zoom lens for yours?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It is a zoom lens. It's just not rated in x's, it's rated in millimeters to the focal plane.

What kind of camera do you have?

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Ok. bit of confusion here. I know what kind of lens you have but there are other more powerful interchangeable zoom lenses for both regular slr and digital slr cameras. I guess I meant to say a better zoom than what you have.
:)
I have an ancient non-digital slr with a separate zoom up to 300 mm.
It's just too heavy to carry around without a pack mule.
;)

My current camera is a hybrid. It's a cross between a point and shoot and a digital slr and isn't small. It's an Olympus SP-570 UZ.

This one:
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1367

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Oh, you just meant a better one. Sure I could, when I decide I want to spend the money. :-)

Nice camera. 26-520mm equivalent? Wow!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

It's a fantastic camera and it costs a lot less this year than last year when it was new and I bought it.
LOL

The wide angle is pretty decent, too. Two macros as well.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

And 10 megapixels. Nice.

I did notice this, however: Operation: 32° – 104°F (0° – 40°C), 30% – 90% humidity. That would be a problem for Wisconsin winters.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I've had it out in below freezing temps (in Germany) and it's been fine. I think they mean "optimal performance". Strictly speaking, no digital camera should be used in *extremely* cold temps. I just checked and my camera has a snow scene setting and the sample picture is a close up of a bunch of people in deep snow so it's not distance snow like on the mountains.

[sirreal13.livejournal.com]

That'a sandhill, all right. We have lots of them out here grazing in the fields. Their call is kind of a prehistoric sounding throat rattle, like a pteranodon (sp?) or some other extinct flying lizard.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think you're right. That *is* what I'd expect a pteranodon to sound like. :-)