I often teach the importance of being intentional when you are looking to tell stories as a photographer. There are many things to consider when it comes to intentionality. One of these is purposefully identifying birds that you can get to know and observe for long periods of time.

The more you can study your subjects (and indeed, fall in love with them), the more chance you will have of creating unique and meaningful images. The reason for this is at least sixfold; you learn their habits (where you can find them and at what time), you take in their environment and its story telling attributes. you learn the behaviours and mannerisms that make them unique, you get to spend more time with them than others would, you get to know their comfort distances (and they get more comfortable around you) and you learn to identify when something out of the ordinary may be about to happen. All these factors give you an edge when it comes to being in the right place and at the right time to take a sought after image.

The following newsletter shares my love for Grey-crowned Cranes and a family I have had the privilege of getting to know for the last 4 years.

CRANES OF SOUTH AFRICA

I have always enjoyed Cranes! We are fortunate to have three species of them here in South Africa; Blue, Grey-crowned and Wattled with the Blue Crane being our country’s national bird.

When we moved to the Natal Midlands in 2020, these exquisite birds were definitely high up on my list to spend time with and photograph.

All three species are sadly endangered! Habitat loss is one of the key factors contributing to their dwindling numbers with their breeding grounds competing with farming and other commercial interests. They all fortunately still come to the Natal Midlands to breed, and I can see all of them within an hour of leaving my front door during these periods. What a blessing!

What is even more remarkable is that we have are own family of cranes that visit us each year. I knew we had made an excellent choice moving to the Midlands but I had no idea it was going to be this good.  To date, I have counted 168 species around our home estate!

GETTING TO KNOW A LOCAL FAMILY OF GREY-CROWNED CRANES

Within the first few months of arriving, I had already bumped into Mr and Mrs Grey-crowned Crane while on one of my weekly photography walks. I was beyond excited with the discovery and just hoped they would stick around. It turns out I had little to worry about as they have become a reliable feature and we are trying our best to keep it that way.

Over the last 4 years I have had some incredible moments with this couple and their offspring. I have seen them perform their mating dance and rituals; dancing, bowing and jumping, and I have seen how they protect their youngsters from any possible sign of danger. From my observations, they are caring parents who manage their chicks (normally 2 each year) with a combination of love and discipline. Based on their success rate, I think they are doing a fantastic job! It has been such a privilege to watch at least three broods come and go in the time we have been here.

The cranes breeding period coincide with the rainy periods in southern Africa (September to March) and hence, I always start keeping an eye out for our local pair come September and October. This is often when mom and dad will bring their previous youngsters around for a visit. They have a couple of locations where they can be predictably found and I try get to them regularly during these time periods.

Knowing their habits and the timing of these visits has meant that the probability of finding and spending time with them has dramatically increased. One of their favourite hangouts is adjacent one of the large dams on the estate, but you have to get there really early in the morning if you want to stand a chance of seeing them. Generally speaking, cranes are shy birds and don’t enjoy human activity nearby. Hence, once our estate is up and active, they tend to push off and go elsewhere for the rest of the day. That said, these two or three hours in the morning are incredibly special and I get to witness them feeding, frolicking and doing life together without interruption.

From my time with the birds, I have got to know their comfort distance/s really well. When it comes to cranes this is normally a lot further away than you would want to stand as a photographer (even if you have a very long lens with a converter).

Comfort distance refers to the space a human can stand away from a bird without them showing signs of changing their behaviour, becoming more alert or making preparations to fly. In a nutshell, it refers to the closest distance you can be from your subject where they remain comfortable and can carry on with what they are doing. This is an incredibly important part of our field craft as photographers and takes many hours of observation in the field to master. Different bird species have different comfort distances and indeed, different birds within the same species will have different comfort distances as well. Having spent most of my life observing birds, you start to get a good sense of where to start and what to look out for when assessing this in the field.

The objective of bird photography (at least from my perspective) is that we don’t want to disturb our subject, as we want to photograph it, and we want to do so when it is relaxed and behaving normally. Hence, mastering this skill can be very helpful and lead to opportunities that others would not have if they accidently overstep the mark.

The interesting thing about comfort distance is that if you respect it and show your subjects that you are not a threat, the distance can reduce over time. At first, 100 metres from the bird (with some cranes this can be much further) may be the comfortable distance but over time this may come down to 50 metres or even closer. It just depends on the particular bird or birds and how they respond to your presence. Observation and patience are the most helpful tools in this regard.

For obvious reasons, I have found that Mr and Mrs Grey-crowned Crane are far more relaxed when it is just the two of them as compared to when they are in the company of their younger family members. With youngsters present, their level of alertness goes up tenfold and their comfort distance is far further than normal.

These observations, time in the field and learnings have contributed significantly to the moments shared and the images taken.

A MAGIC MOMENT

After the last few years of observation, I had thought I had seen just about all one could hope for. That was until an early morning in September this year.
As is often the case, I left home before sunrise and made my way to one of the Crane’s favourite feeding grounds. I had seen them around the week before and was hoping I would find them on arrival. As I crested a small hill, I saw four distant shapes and knew I was in luck. They had brought their youngsters too.

After some fierce interactions, calm came over the 6 birds and the four older birds started to walk around with each other. What started as animosity, fortunately turned to affection. The adults marched, displayed and stopped for brief periods to interact.

Much to my surprise and without hesitation the 4 adult birds then started walking directly towards where I was lying down. With my camera ready, I started taking images, wondering how close they were going to come. They kept coming!

Not only did the birds walk within a few metres of me but they also continued to interact with each other; often touching beaks or looking into each other’s eyes.

For a brief interval, I had been invited into their intimate courtship and got to experience what for me was a once in a lifetime moment with a very special family of birds.

A few days later I reflected on what took place that morning and considered why the birds started off attacking each other and then moving to a place of intimacy and affection. Given my history with the birds, I have only seen these two adults and their chicks each year. No other cranes have been present (from what I have observed).
For the last 3 years I have only observed two chicks with them. On this day, however, another two birds arrived and there were 6. Is it possible that the two birds were previous offspring from two or three years prior? They would have known the location, as their parents would have shown them around as they do each year. Perhaps, this explains the magical moment? Perhaps, I had just witnessed a very special family reunion!

If that was not enough, a few days later I got to see the family of four again, this time without the other two adults. They were feeding on the nearby golf course and I was once again treated to some wonderful family interactions. I particularly enjoyed the moment when the adults were teaching the youngsters to flap their wings and a Blacksmith Lapwing swooped in to tell them off for messing around near his nest. I was thankful to see that the Lapwings do it to other animals and not just us. 🙂

I feel so blessed to share these moments in the field with these endangered birds. Connecting with nature is something that fills my tank and brings so much peace and joy. I hope this newsletter has encouraged you to get out there and make your own connections and moments. They are memories that in my experience never fade!