One of the things you do at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge during the Festival of the Cranes is to attend the sunset fly-in of the Cranes. The Sandhills spread themselves up and down the length of the refuge during the day, and beyond its boundaries to the fields of cooperative farmers who are paid to leave a certain percentage of grain in the fields after harvest to feed the Cranes, but just before and just after sunset the Cranes fly in to a few chosen ponds and fields on the refuge to spend the night. For the most part they stand in water all night, as protection from predators. The high desert light of the upper Rio Grande valley, and the surrounding mountains make the incoming flight of the Cranes into a spectacle that rarely fails to draw a crowd to the parking lots and overlooks provided by the refuge.

If you look up and down the levee, you can see a fair fraction of the Canon’s recent production of 600mm lenses 🙂 as well as everything from phone cameras to superzoom Point & Shoots. It seems that everyone is compelled to attempt to capture the vision of the cranes coming in in the pre-sunset light.

I try it every year, with mixed success, but this year my new Canon SX50HS made job much easier. Sports gives me almost instant focus on moving subjects, and 5 frames per second capture for up to 10 frames with focus between frames. It also pushes the ISO up to provide higher shutter speeds. It is brilliant for birds in flight and, as it happens, Cranes landing in the last pre-sunset light.

Canon SX50HS in Sports Mode. 1-3) 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/640-1/100th @ ISO 800. 4) 600mm equivalent. f5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.  Except for 3), cropped top and bottom for effect.

I am not sure I am going to get back for another sunset on this trip to Bosque, but even if I don’t, I am really happy with these images! They are all linked to the full screen lightbox versions…and they look even better there. 🙂