ML211802371

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

I spotted a Common (Eurasian) Crane at 5:57PM MDT on the 9th of April from my car window. I was parked off to the north side of Highway 92, between Road 205 and 203 in Lewellen Nebraska. The coordinates of my vehicle during this sighting were 41.322677, -102.098734, and the crane appeared roughly 1,200 feet away and directly to the north of my car. I spotted this crane because I was looking for a leucitic crane frequently seen in the field just to the south of Hwy 92 where I was parked. When I looked into the field of Sandhills, I noticed one was slightly lighter than the rest, however it was not quite light enough to be our leucitic visitor. When it popped its head up, I noticed its black neck, and knew I was looking at a Common Crane. The crane was a similar height to Sandhill Cranes, only its feathers were a slightly lighter grey. As mentioned, it had black feathers along its slender neck. The crane's body was also slightly more triangular than that of the Sandhills. The crane was grazing in a corn field among several other Sandhill Cranes. I watched, photographed and tried to film this bird from my car for 1 hour and 50 minutes, until it left with the last cranes to leave this field. I was photographing the crane with a Canon 5D Mark III, and a Tamron G2 Telephoto lens at 600mm. The crane mostly grazed, but it exhibited some other interesting behavior. It seemed to keep to itself, it always perked its head up when a nearby train passed, and at times, it acted territorial if other cranes got too close. There were also moments where it stared directly at other sandhill cranes, who stared back (pictures to be attached).

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Lens

EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

ISO

100

Focal length

24 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/9.0

Shutter speed

1/200 sec

Dimensions

2400 pixels x 2400 pixels

Original file size

2.35 MB