Sandhill Crane, Bosque del Apache NWR, Socorro NM

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is managed for wildlife. The Refuge has enough area to grow crops to feed the thousands of birds that winter there. Along the backside of the tour loop, they plant millet, and then flood the fields so that Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, and dabbling ducks of all kinds can feed on the seeds. This year, the corn crop failed, so the Cranes are depending more on the millet. Generally the millet is knocked down so it will be more accessible to the birds, but a small stand was left standing along the edge of the field, and it was interesting to watch the big cranes delicately picking millet seed above their heads. They seemed to have most success coming in from underneath. It has to take a lot of millet to feed a Sandhill Crane. 🙂 (The corn crops both north and south of the Refuge did not fail, so the Cranes are spending more time off the refuge, feeding in the fields where the NWS has contracted a portion of the crop.)

I love the light of early morning here, picking out all the details.

Nikon 900 at 1400mm equivalent field of view. 1/640th @ ISO 100 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.