Who wouldn’t want the sensation of flying? The wind in your face, floating on air, ultimate freedom!
One skydiver described freefalling between 10,000 feet and 3,000 feet as a surreal experience while speaking in hushed, reverent terms. So who wouldn’t want that thrill?
Well … ahem … that would be me. My wife jumped out of a perfectly good airplane while strapped to a parachute and someone who claimed to have jumped before. I watched.
I could barely step off a high ledge to begin a zip line ride even though I knew I was securely fastened. That experience made me fairly confident the airplane doors will remain closed on my flights.
I think open-air flying is best left to experts, like Sandhill Cranes. The beauty of it all is that I can share the experience vicariously. And I don’t have to step off, or out of, anything to enjoy it.
These Sandhill Cranes make it look so easy and enjoyable. Of course if I had the advantage of starting from the ground that might change things … or not.
(Click on the first photo to open in larger gallery)
Krahnpix 
Reblogged this on bearspawprint.
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Hi Lyle! Nice golden light in these shots!
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It was just a perfect evening after a cloudy day and the sandhills just kept coming.
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Beautiful pictures! We only have the common crane here (Grus grus), so it’s nice to see another species of crane. They are, indeed, majestic. I love hearing the sound of them flying above, and seeing their moving V-formation. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures!
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Glad you liked them. This year I made a special effort to find the sandhill cranes before they left and I really enjoyed them. They are certainly not quiet! It’s also interesting to see what birds and animals are in different parts of the world.
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Fantastic lighting! Sandhill Cranes are spectacular, I only wish I got to see more of them around here. As for flying, instead of skydiving, try an ultralight. You can still take bird pictures while flying and you don’t have to go that high if you don’t want too 🙂
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After being cloudy and grey, the sun came out just before sunset and put on a show for me. That ultralight seems like another one of those great ideas in theory but the sad truth is I think I’m addicted to being on firm ground.
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I’m with you, Lyle – or maybe am beyond you. My distaste for heights is significant enough to even keep me off ladders. Of course, that means I can’t clean the eaves on the house, so maybe it’s not entirely a bad thing. Terrific shots of fabulous birds!
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I hadn’t thot of the upside to use to your advantage. It’s nice to hear that you like those shots.
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Hi, Lyle, and thanks for your good comment on my recent turkey portraits. This is my first visit (sorry it’s taken so long), but I’m looking forward to a much deeper look. This is a beautiful series on the cranes. Your first image is absolutely spectacular, and 9919 is right behind. Lovely work! -Gary
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Thanks for dropping by Gary. I had the good fortune of great light and cranes that kept flying by that evening. I wish they all turned out like that.
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Funny. I never wanted to fly. I love to feel the earth under my feet evet it sometimes moves… And I think you are right – birds do it better. I love your images – and the light on them is great.
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I was really fortunate to have great light one evening when the birds were flying around me. Glad you liked them. As for flying, I have come to be persuaded that, like you, the ground is the place for me.
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Great pictures as usual, Lyle!! I’d love to be able to fly free like a bird… in theory. In reality, I’m terrified of heights, so would be a quite pathetic bird.
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Thanks. That’s a great way to describe it – love to fly in theory.
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Beautiful pictures!
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Appreciate that.
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Terrific flight shots of these amazing birds! They are quite elegant flyers aren’t they? Well done.
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Thanks. Elegant flyers is a great way to describe them. It almost seems like they are flying in slow motion with that large wingspan.
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I saw this when I wrote my previous comment: ‘NOVEMBER 12, 2012 AT 2:00 AM’. Here it’s 10 am. It seems that we have an advance of 8 hours.
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I saw a documentary called ‘Winged Migration’ and I noticed that cranes are much more noisy that I supposed. Here we have storks but they are very, very silent.
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They are definitely noisy. You can hear them a long way off. I haven’t seen storks so its interesting that they are quiet.
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Wow, what a fabulous picture!!!
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Thanks so much.
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