My interest in photographing birds started with the awe-inspiring experience of viewing the spring sandhill crane migration on the Platte River in central Nebraska. There are few wildlife spectacles on this planet that can rival the sight of thousands of cranes lifting off the river at dawn.
Sandhill cranes lifting off from the Platte River at Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary. Every spring, nearly a million sandhill cranes stop for several weeks on a stretch of this river in central Nebraska to rest, eat, put on weight, and then continue their journey northward. Seeing the cranes in the morning or evening from a viewing blind on the river is an unforgettable experience.
Sandhill cranes in the morning sun on the Platte River
Sandhill cranes flying over the Platte River, central Nebraska
Sandhill cranes heading off the river to the cornfields and other places to feed
When roaming the back roads of Nebraska or elsewhere on the Great Plains, I always have a camera close by for any interesting bird sightings. Here is a group of American white pelicans lifting off from a lake in the Nebraska Sandhills.
Dickcissel singing at Konza Prairie, Kansas
American avocets in the Nebraska Sandhills
Male northern cardinal in the winter cold
Song sparrow, central Nebraska
Cedar waxwing, Nebraska
Great horned owl, Lincoln, Nebraska
Lesser yellowlegs, Pioneers Park, Lincoln, Nebraska
Red-tailed hawk, Lincoln, Nebraska
I try to have my camera with me wherever I travel, and especially on hikes or other outdoor activities. This bald eagle flew by while my sons and I floated down the Kenai River in Alaska (they were fishing, I was playing photographer). It took me back to my teenage years when I saw my first eagle up close while on a canoe trip in the mid 1980s…a time when eagles were far too rare.
Dickcissel, Konza Prairie, Kansas
Dickcissel, Konza Prairie, Kansas
Summer tanager, Konza Prairie, Kansas
Western meadowlark, Montana
Short-billed gull, Denali National Park, Alaska
Bald eagle, Kenai River, Alaska
Yellow warbler, South Dakota