Sandhill Cranes and a Bluebird

[Steve Robinson]

There was a lot of wildlife to capture in Yellowstone last week. The one that got away was an elk being chased by two wolves. I get to keep that one in my mind's eye. Oh yeah, the elk got away too. C&C always welcome.

Some Sandhill Cranes in a marsh near the Blacktail Plateau. This time of year they begin their mating ritual. They were a ways off so these are cropped. Pentax K20D and Sigma 100-300 f/4 + 1.4x TC.

I was parked near the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs when a little female Mountain Bluebird used my car's mirror as a perch. Pentax K20D + DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 at 50mm.

 

[Don Cohen]

I hate to see a post without any responses, so will chime in here. And forgive the delay - I just discovered that a new spam blocking service I started using was inadvertently set so that I wasn't receiving email notifications about new posts here. I changed the settings and fixed it!

Regarding the first image, in my opinion, the subjects are just too small, blend into the background, and the tilt of the terrain and image really work against it. The second is a little better in this regard, but the lack of light in the eyes makes the images a bit lifeless, with the brush obscuring the crane on the right a problem as well.

The second two are nice fun images to see!

Hope this helps.