This is my first year attending the Annual Sandhill Crane Festival which is held at Creamer's Field. Every August, thousands of Sandhill Cranes begin their migration southward from Alaska and Siberia. Creamer's Field is a migratory waterfowl refuge and one of the largest refuges for viewing such birds. The three day festival offers a diverse selection of activities from children to adults.
This year, i was hoping to make a few of the workshops and tours such as the Nature Photography Workshop with Ronn Murray, a local photographer, bird banding, a few of the nature walks, kid specific activities, and the tex-mex dinner with latin music (a fund raiser for Camp Habitat). Unfortunately, i was only able to make the fundraiser and went on my own nature walk with the girls. 
Morgan loved being back at Creamer's as she had spent five days in Camp Habitat there. She loved walking along the pathways and thru the fields as my personal guide. We did not go to far along the trails as i was preoccupied with taking pictures of my youngest lovely lady, Riley. After sorting pictures, i have realized that i don't have nearly as many photos of her as i do of Morgan. Of course, Riley does not make it easy to take pictures with her quick movements, not wanting to look at the camera or me when i call her, and of course her ever present scowl. I like to refer to the scowl as her "short straw look". Its the one that says i am forced to be apart of this family, i had no choice as i drew the short straw.
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| Crane heads were bobbing in and out of this field. |
We were also preoccupied with the many geese and cranes that surrounded us in the fields and flying above us. It was truly wonderful to see. In the photo on the right, it was like the cranes were playing peek-a-boo once i decided i would try for a negative space photo. With some patience, i was able to finally get a photo of just one crane head above the field while Riley was kicking my back (she was riding in a carrier) and making sure Morgan did not wander too far ahead on the trails nor scaring the poor birds.
Morgan's yelling finally broke thru my negative space concentration. She was further down the trail and had found an entire open area of both geese and cranes. They were tucked in between two tall fields of grass so i was unable to see them until i reached the opening. It was wonderful to see the excitement n her face and the squeals behind me as we watched the large group of birds. A vehicle started in the distance which startled many of the birds causing them to take flight. A marvelous site that i, unfortunately, did not photograph as i had turned off my camera and capped to start heading back to the van.
In these photos, i played with my depth of field a little to focus first on the cranes and then the geese. I could not get any closer to my subjects so i zoomed in as much as i could with my 18-270mm lens. I wish i would have thought to change my settings so i had a deeper depth of field so all the birds would have been in focus. If i get another shot next week, i will try these shots again. A telephoto lens would have been nice, too. I saw many a photographer cradling a camera with a humongous lens. My neck ached just looking at them. I still want one.
I am ending this post with a picture of Morgan. She enjoyed just hanging on to the split rail fence to watch the cranes and geese. I kept pestering her to look at me so i could get a photo of her. I ended up with a scrunched up face and growl. Oh, how i love this little girl.
Read more on the festival:
Something for everyone at annual Sandhill Crane Festival: FAIRBANKS - Not much has changed when it comes to the annual Sandhill Crane Festival. But that doesn’t mean that the festival isn’t any less interesting, or inspiring, when it comes to celebrating ...
