Night Stream
I spent a night in a photo blind at the edge of the Platte river in order to photograph the Sandhill cranes. The birds are very wary and this was one way to hopefully get a better vantage point as they came in to roost in the evening. I was discouraged at first that the night of my reservation proved to be very cloudy and by the time the majority of the birds had come to rest on the sandbars it was mostly dark. Determined to go away with whatever I could get, I set my camera for a longer shutter speed and was really pleased to capture both the motion of the current and the slow graceful movements of the birds as they preened and waded in the shallow water. I can’t imagine a more beautiful place to be in early Spring when the Sandhill Cranes migrate by the hundreds of thousands and use this 80 mile stretch of shallow river as their safe haven while they rest, gain weight for their long flight, and establish life long partnerships through elaborate dance. 
Night Stream belongs to the following groups:
After Dark, All Animals Great And Small., High Quality Animal Images - 1 Submission a Week, I Love Birds, Night Photography, Out of the Blue (75%+ Blue), PostCard Style (Describe your image please) Limit 2 per day), Rural Around The Globe, The Birds, The Woman Photographer **7 Submissions a week only please** and Wild Nature Photography & Writing Available for sale asGreeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints and Framed Prints
Gaurav Dhup
great capture!
niggle
awesome shot,well done
sherbert1head
nice work!
Christopher E...
wonderful shot!! was well worth the wait, love the blue tone to this
gladders
Nice image again. Good depth control
aphoto4you
dawne i do like this a lots…./i like the colours and the way you composed this …:)my instant favorites
DaveBassett
Nice work – unusual and most effective.
Jim Caldwell
A night well spent
Sensiworld
Beautiful ! Love the blue tones.
Dawne Olson replied
Thanks Sylvia! I was very pleased how the blue was recorded on camera… I didn’t know what to expect after it had gotten so dark out
amarica
Love it Dawne, great job!
peterhoenderdos
very nice
jlynn
Serenely Beautiful!!! Time well spent:)
Nikki Trexel
i love the look of this. wonderful story to go along with it! beautiful work, and that is a great positive way to make the most of your circumstances and just go with it. :)
julie08
Fantastic:)
Lois Bryan
A wonderful image!!! Congratulation on your Feature!!
kenspics
Perfect!!
Patience rewarded!!
Dawne Olson replied
Thank you Ken! Patience indeed! It took me almost an hour to figure out how to turn off the LED light on the back of my camera so I wouldn’t scare them away! what an experience!!
gerardo segism...
persistence won this prized image
Dawne Olson
Thank you Allan. I greatly appreciate that.
Julie Morgan
You have done what I have dreamed of doing….this is an awesome image…What did it take to get there and set up, etc.?
Dawne Olson
Thanks Julie!! I have been going the past few years. It is such an experience! If you do a search on Google for Rowe Sanctuary + sandhill cranes it should give you a link to their website which has all the info about photo blinds and making reservations. There are a lot of different options… not all of them involve spending the night outside in a plywood box! lol
Arletta
Beautiful. I like the way you got out there and lines all the birds up just so. It’s very orderly and makes them look like a slightly dejected communist army about to march in and take over democracy.
I’ve decided, since I’m having the sort of day wherein all my well meant comments are taken as rude and/or unserious, I’d make silly and possibly rude ones that should, thusly, be taken in good part. Right?
Maybe not.
I really do like the photo. The description is also enchanting.
kathy s gillen...
wow, this is awesome, great work
RavenSoul
Very Surreal… Excellent photo!
Diane Schuster
Just beautiful and well worth the wait, I enjoyed your story on how you got this image!
Christopher Bi...
this is another wonderful shot
Sande Elkins
There is a small area where we get Sandhill Cranes here in East TN, too. They are only there for a short time during their migration and every year, I say that I’m going to go see them. And then, as I seem to do more and more often these days, I forget. Thank you so much for sharing this incredible image. I love your work!
Dawne Olson replied
Thanks again Sande… the trip to see them has become an annual event for me. Even with my best photographs I can’t seem to come close to capturing the sensation- the spectacle of the migration scene. You really have to see it!
Joanne Bradley
Beautiful and amazing! it must have been such a wonderful experience to be there…
hsien-ku
love this! perfect blur!
Dawne Olson replied
Thank you!
Isa Rodriguez
Clare Colins
Beautiful work. congratulations…...well deserved!
gabbielizzie
congradulations on your feature
starikarp
fantastic photo!
Moshe Cohen
Amazing work Dawne, I love it.
Here in Israel, hundreds of thousands birds pass through twice a year, it is a migration path between Africa and Europe.
They have resting places mostly in the north of the country, one of them is the Hula lake.
Lot of the birds stay there all the winter and don’t arrive to Africa.
Dawne Olson
THank you! I really love migration… its such a short season here. Very dramatic though. When I visited Israel last Spring I wanted to go to Hula but we never made it there. Maybe next time! Thanks again
walela
Beautiful!!
A1000WORDS 29 days ago
Awesome Capture… =D