Cranes

"Autumn is crisp and the firmament far,

especially far from where people live.

I look at cranes on the sand

and am immersed in joy when I see mountains beyond the clouds.

Dusk inks the crystal ripples."

from Drifting on the Lake

by Wang Wei

Yesterday we took off in the morning, promising to finish the little jobs in the afternoon. We did. We went back to a series of sloughs where we saw Sora last year. We did not see a lot of birds, so we are not sure if we have missed the start of migration. Given there were no red winged blackbirds I suspect we have. But we did see Sandhill Cranes a bird we have wanted to see close-up for years. Ever since then my wife (I am too hard of hearing) has heard them passing overhead.

https://thatsjustthewildwood.blogspot.ca/2016/08/so-gradual-in-those-summers-was-going.html

Wilson's Phalaropes

Stilt Sandpiper

Sandhill Cranes

Blue Winged Teal on the prairie.

“If you are very lucky, you're allowed to be in certain places during just the right season of your life: by the sea for the summer when you're seven or eight and full of the absolute need to swim until dark and exhaustion close their hands together, cupping you in between.” 

from Bones of the Moon

by Jonathan Carroll