White Water Draw -- The Sandhill Crane’s Flight Practice Landing/Takeoff Area

The Tumbleweed Photo Group’s last shoot was at the White Water Draw located near McNeal and Elfrida, AZ.  Two of the best times to take pictures of the cranes is at sunrise when the birds take to the skies with noisy wings flapping.  I am not referring to a few cranes but thousands of cranes.  They go to the local farmer’s fields that have been harvested and make a meal of the remaining grains.  We chose the second best time for our shoot…..sunset.  It is second best because the birds usually return to White Water Draw a group at a time rather than all at once.

The day was cool with a cloud cover and at times we had wind gusts that I had to hold my tripod so my camera wouldn’t take off on me.  And as the daylight started to fade, the temperatures started to dive.  I took several pictures but not many really stood-out as classic shots.The above picture shows a group approaching and while they look to be just a large group making their attack run, they are really organized.

Gear down and on final approach.  At least there aren’t any “crash and burn” accidents amongst the crowd. 

As the wife and I were leaving, the clouds had started to dissipate and the sun came through for only a few minutes.  I took a picture of an old abandoned farm house with it’s leaning tower appearance.  It will take only a couple more years before the desert reclaims the land completely.

--Ray--