Dancing Cranes. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 16, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A group of sandhill cranes perform a courtship “dance.”
The sandhill cranes hold a special place for me in the list of San Joaquin Valley birds. Many years ago, I recall reading the work of the great American conservationist Aldo Leopold in a college class. As a young “Sierra Guy” I registered that this was supposed to be important, but my passions were with Muir and the Sierra and I was skeptical that some guy writing about some birds I had never seen could have much of interest to say about such things. To be honest, most of it didn’t sink in at the time — but as so often happens with college experiences, the seed was planted and it finally took root and grew much later. A second story: I was not at all interested in photographing birds until a chance encounter with a colleague while waiting in the espresso stand line one morning at the college. While we were standing there chatting, my friend Pauline mentioned her passion for birding and described a place further north in the Central Valley. I was going to photograph that weekend but didn’t have specific plans, so I more or less figured, “what the heck, might as well go check out this bird place.” The embarrassing fact is that I had lived decades in California with (almost) no idea of the astonishing numbers of migratory birds that make their homes here. One visit to this place my friend mentioned and I was hooked.
While the geese are my primary excuse to go photograph birds, over time I’ve become more and more fascinated by the cranes. There is nothing like arriving before dawn where they hang out and hearing their haunting cry carrying over the wetlands, unless it is the sight of a nearly perfect line of them, wings moving slowly, as they follow their level trajectories above the landscape, especially when it is a bit foggy. During the day they often seem to collect in groups, quietly feeding on pasture land. In the evening (and occasionally during the day) vast numbers of them coast in to land. And then there is “the dance.” Among a seemingly quiet group of cranes, mayhem erupts as small groups collect together and take turns jumping into the air in what I understand to be a courtship ritual.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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