Do a little dance…

If you were a Sandhill crane you might be overcome with passion right now, because I have a feeling that this pose is irresistible, to a member of the opposite crane-sex.  Then you might choose to do a little dance of your own…And then we would have chicks to enjoy, and photograph.  But though they return every evening, and explore the mound that they built, I am not as hopeful that I’ll have such convenient photo ops this year.  I see pairs of cranes in the neighborhood every day, but not single cranes, so I guess no one is home sitting on eggs.  I’d like to think that the cold weather has just delayed things a bit, maybe…They were back again yesterday, feasting on something out there.  Yes, they stab their beaks all the way into the soft earth, that’s not an optical illusion.  I came around back on the riding mower and there they were, and since I didn’t want to disturb them I stopped the mower and went in and got my camera.  I think I disturbed them more by doing that, since they picked their heads up and watched to see just how close I would come with my tripod.  As soon as I stopped and set up they quit worrying about me, and I was only 20 feet away, if that.  There was no further dancing, they were too busy, and I eventually wanted to finish my mowing, so I got on the mower and did the areas out back that were furthest from them.  I had already noticed that they pay no attention to mowers, having seen them follow right behind the mowers in the yard across the way, but I hated to interrupt them.  By the time I needed to get to that last part of the yard they had wandered further to the left and on to the next yard.  That mud at the edge of the lake was looking particularly black, I can’t wait for the next time Ozzie goes down there to drink and sinks up to his ankles in that nice, black mud…