In early May of 2024 I was out photographing the wonders of Yellowstone with a couple of friends, and Yellowstone was as beautiful as I have ever seen it. Fresh snow at that time of the year makes the landscape look clean and new. Spring and fall are by far the best time to see large animals in Yellowstone. By mid-June, however, it has been my experience that bear sightings become much less frequent, as they move to higher elevations to avoid the coming heat of summer.
We had seen and photographed two well-known grizzlies with cubs earlier that day. It was late afternoon by now and snow was falling, sometimes light and other times fairly heavy. We were all based in Victor, Idaho, a two-hour drive in good weather from where we had pulled off the main road to discuss the weather situation. We were in a 4-wheel drive Toyota Tundra, so light snow didn't worry us too much. After a few minutes weather-talk we spotted a small group of Sandhill cranes walking lightly on top of the fresh snow. I'm so glad we didn't just keep driving. Almost always, taking a few extra minutes to get a shot of the more common things we see in the parks seems to pay off with a special shot. Sandhill cranes sometimes gather in large groups, mostly in tall grasses where they are hard to see. They can be really noisy, too, making a reed-like clicking sound. I have seen large groups of them on the ground (in willows) in early spring near Oxbow Bend in the Grand Tetons. It's a special treat, though usually hard to get an artistic shot of them on the ground.
We were lucky that day (May 6, 2024), because we had a group of them out in the open in bright, clean, snow. Back at home that evening, as I looked through more than 500 pictures from that day in Yellowstone including the Hellroaring Grizzly sow and her cubs, the Obsidian sow and her cubs, and more, I came across this image of a single Sandhill Crane. It caused me to pause. I love the simplicity of the scene and the seasonal aspect of the snow. This turned out to be another example of seeing something that I would normally not bother to photograph, but because I had slowed down enough to appreciate the art in what I was seeing, I was able to get an artistic shot. This one really takes me back to that exact moment - the reedy sound of the cranes all hollering at once, the smell of nearby pine trees, and the occasional falling snow. The memory of scenes like this one keep me going back for more!
