The Sandhill Cranes stage in our area in late summer and early fall before heading south to New Mexico and Arizona for the winter. We flood one or more of our hay fields in late August to attract them to our ranch. Every morning at sunrise they fly out from their roosting site along the river to feed in our fields and those of the surrounding ranches. Every evening at sunset they fly back to the river to spend the night. The Sandhill Cranes in our area are part of the Rocky Mountain Flock and are of the subspecies known as the Greater Sandhill Crane. Today I was asked to participate in a crane count for our ranch. On the morning fly-out, I counted 203 cranes. This evening i decided to photograph rather than count the cranes as they flew back to the river. So here is a sampling of the Sandhill Cranes at the magic hour on the Yampavian Ranch.
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