Cranes against the clouds
What a difference a couple of weeks make. Last time we travelled to the Hiwassee Wildlife Sanctuary, the high water conditions on the river had sent the birds elsewhere. Yesterday, we took a 4 hour cruise on the Blue Moon and wandered around the Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers through the sanctuary and saw hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Sandhill cranes.
While the cranes were our reason for making the trip, we experienced a number of surprises including a rare Whooping Crane, dozens of nesting Great Blue Herons, plenty of ducks, coots and gulls and even a nesting Bald Eagle. We contemplated not going because we had snow and Ice on Saturday and had to catch the Blue Moon in an out-of-the-way marina down many miles of two lane country roads. Our fears were ungrounded and we had a spectacular adventure. The crew of the Blue Moon was helpful and informative. They provided a great lunch, kept the coffee pots full and answered our many questions.
The gallery below shows some of the highlites of the trip (Click on an image to see them all larger):
