Remembering a time.

I remember when I was just a little kid…maybe 8-9 years old. 
My dad and I were walking towards the house from the car, there on the sidewalk he paused…tilted his head slightly and said “Hear that?”. 

On that warm autumn day I could hear something different. 
Not a sound that I had noticed before.
His eyes were scanning the deep blue sky.  I looked up into the openness. Nothing.  I saw nothing but blue sky.

Out of the corner of my eye I watched dad as he scanned the vastness.  I could hear the…I don’t know how to describe it, the repetitive sound, a call of some sort, wafting down from what looked like nothingness.

Suddenly he put his hand on my shoulder, and said “There! Do you see them?”.
I didn’t know what them I was looking for, but all I could see was deep blue sky.
He guided my gaze told me “They are really high, they just look like specs in the sky”.

After a bit of searching I saw very light dots, almost like small fleas, circling in the dark blue sky.
“Sandhill Cranes” he said. “You don’t see them very often here”.

That was over 40 years ago. As the years went by we went from seeing (or just hearing) them once or twice a year, to having them landing in the surrounding farm ground consistently.

The numbers of these gangely birds that come through our region has exploded in recent years to where we are now seeing them land in the field across the road from our house almost daily this last month.

As a photographer I have found them challenging to get images I am happy with.
Slowly though, over the years, I am getting a collection that work for me. And LOTS that no one will ever see. 🙂