Sandhills in the river

You all have made me want to go to Bosque lately with all of the wonderful sandhill shots that have been posted. I’ve never been there, but hopefully soon.

In the meantime, here are some sandhills from a different part of the country. This image was taken from a blind along the Platte River in Nebraska. For those of you that have been, it’s the one run by the Audubon Society. And to get these shots, you have to sleep in the blind overnight – you’re placed in the blind before the birds arrive in the evening (4:00pm), and taken out once they flush in the morning (8:00am).

I’ve spent time in blinds previously, but never overnight. What an experience – you’re not allowed to use flashlights, lamps, flash, or any other light because it might scare the 200,000+ sandhills all around you. So everything you do after sunset is in complete darkness. The sounds were pretty incredible – thousands of sandhills were all around the blind calling most of the night because of coyotes in the area. And a mouse tried to get in the blind – it sounded like Bigfoot looking for dinner.

These sandhills flew into the river just after the sun went down, but not before. Thus, I didn’t have a chance to catch them in good light. You can see a larger collection of sandhills on the sandbar in the background.

EOS3 / 500IS / Provia 400 / shutter speed and aperture not recorded

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!
Clinton Smith
Off the Trail Images