Mark Sheely’s Photoblog

They spent more time poking around in the mud:

Their legs and feet are funny because they look so awkward:

After being there for about 8 minutes, they started to walk back in the direction from which they came – right past a parking lot full of cars:

It was a great way to start my lunch break.

Where I work, there is a wooded area next to the parking lot. As I was walking to my car for lunch, the two Sandhill Cranes that are nesting nearby were also walking towards me. They stopped about 10 yards away at a little drainage ditch. Notice how the crane in the picture below has mud on his beak?

The mud is from picking leaves out of the drainage ditch:

Here the male has a mud covered leaf, and in the picture below that we see the female with a leaf as well:

The cranes’ feathers are naturally the grayish color you see on their necks. The brown comes from mud that they rub on themselves during mating season. These two were using muddy leaves out of the drainage ditch to stain their feathers:

I’ll write more about this pair tomorrow.