In November, I made an exploratory trip down to Jasper Polaski Fish and Wildlife Area in Northern Indiana.
Jasper Polaski is a staging area used by sandhill cranes as they migrate south. I think it is one of the best places in the Midwest to photograph these birds in flight. The birds start to gather in late September with their numbers peaking around mid-November, when there are usually between 10,000 and 15,000 birds.
I was there one morning, and the birds were gathered in the Goose Pasture viewing area. The morning was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, with winds out of the southeast.
I mention the wind direction because it is very important in this type of photography. Birds will usually take off and land into the wind. Winds out of the southeast mean that when I set up with the rising sun at my back, most of the birds would be flying toward the southeast at a perfect angle towards me.
If the winds were out of the west and I had the rising sun at my back,, most of the birds would be taking off and landing toward the west facing away from me, not very photogenic.
As soon as the sun comes up, the birds start leaving the pasture, singly and in small flocks. The birds are heading out to the surrounding farm fields to feed for the day.
It took about three hours for all of the birds to leave the pasture, at which time I packed it up. I suppose I could have worked them feeding in the fields during the rest of the day, but I had somewhere else I had to be. In the evening, the cycle reverses itself, and you photograph the birds as they fly back into this same pasture.
I took hundreds of pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites.
Good Luck & Good Light!
Steve & Nicole