Getting Out

 We have had some marvelous blue sky days which have encouraged me to get out with the cameras.  On Monday I took the dog along on a short hike in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains east of town.  It was really nice to get away from city streets and into the natural setting, so full of forms, shadows and textures.

I decided to try a red filter which is not something I have done before.  The auto-exposure of the Pentax ME handled the challenge ok, but the dark filter made it nearly impossible to see what I was aiming for.

When I got up to the base of the hill I was delighted to see a small group of mule deer peering down at me.

They were aware of the dog nosing around in the brush below, but they seemed more curious than fearful.

 If the weather holds I'll try to get back to the same place with a longer lens.

A week earlier:

I had heard and seen a lot of Sandhill Cranes in the sky, so I went out to the Los Poblanos Open Space just east of the river where they can often be seen this time of year.  In past years the birds have shown up there in the hundreds, but they are not attracted to the area in such numbers now since there has been no corn planting.  On this occasion I saw only about a dozen on the ground  and a few more in the air.

 I'll get out soon to some likely spots on the river to look for the cranes.

Time Flies

 The arrival of wintering Sandhill Cranes is usually heard before it is seen. Their strange, trilling calls carry for great distances in the winter blue sky. It is a sound that came from the sky a million years before the first humans appeared anywhere on the planet.

I have seen fewer cranes this year in the usual places I find them.  I attribute that to the fact than no corn was planted this year at the Los Poblanos Open Space. It took me a week of walking around the Open Space fields and through the riverside forest to get close enough for a few shots of the birds with my longest telephoto.

Following The Cranes

 The cranes at the river have mostly been beyond the reach of my longest lenses.  This morning I went a few miles north to the Los Poblanos Open Space where it is often possible to get closer to the birds.

I have had mostly poor results from the Vivitar Zoom I have been using with the Nikon F.  I may go back to the Open Space with my Pentax and the Yashinon zoom.