Even on a year with mostly overcast weather, the Sandhill Cranes at Bosque del Apache NWR stand out against the gold of the ripe grain of the fields planted on the Refuge with corn, oats, and wheat. This bird, coasting in for a landing, catches some of the size of the Crane. These are big birds: tall with a huge wingspan, and a relatively heavy body.

This shot is also a demonstration of the quality of today’s small sensor Point & Shoot cameras. I used Sports Mode, for its ability to lock focus on a moving target, and because it is optimized for high shutter speeds. This is ISO 1600, at 1/250th @ f6.5. While there is noise in the image, as is expected, it is still amazing considering what would have been possible even a few years ago with a small sensor camera.

Canon SX50HS. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.