Everyone wants to see the sandhill cranes. At least that's the impression I get when I visit the most popular sandhill crane roost in our area, Woodbridge Ecological Reserve, also known as Isenberg Crane Reserve.
Onlookers are fascinated with this bird, a direct descendant from pre-historic times.
The Woodbridge reserve, the best place to view sandhill cranes in our area, is only about 30 miles south of Sacramento off Interstate 5, on Woodbridge Road.
The best time to view the birds? Morning or evening twilight. I prefer early mornings because the area is less crowded. Evenings are often congested with traffic trying to fit in a small parking area.
Most visitors want to see the massive departures or arrivals of the birds. In the mornings, they all depart to find food and in the evenings they return to roost for the night.
Seeing thousands of these large birds take flight or come in for the night is a thrill. And the sound they make is thrilling, too. If you have a video camera or a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera with video capabilities, be sure to record the experience.
Be kind to the cranes
Another unforgettable sight happens in the parking area: Visitors not obeying the parking rules. There isn't room for a lot of cars, so head-in parking is best. Despite a plethora of signs on the rules, some drivers insist on backing into their spaces so they can watch the birds from the warmth of their vehicle. Problem is, when you arrive and leave, your headlights annoy and spook the birds.
In visiting these preserves, our mission should be to have as little impact on the birds as possible. If they fly away because of our headlights, they expend a tremendous amount of energy. It will take the better part of a day to regain the calories they lost flying away.
The same applies to preserves that allow you to drive through. If you stop, stay in your vehicle and view or photograph the birds from there. If you get out of your car, most birds will take off immediately and will have burned calories needlessly.
The purpose of our wildlife areas and preserves is to allow the birds to fatten themselves up for the long flights back north to their breeding areas.
There are also many farms in the area where you will find birds during the day. Please don't trespass on private property. Be watchful of people stopping alongside the roads to view birds. And if you are stopping, be safe and use your hazard blinkers.
Tips on camera settings
Photography in low light can be daunting because you not only have to worry about using a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the movement of the birds but also make sure you have a small enough aperture so there is enough depth-of-field to ensure the birds are in focus. Add to that a high enough ISO speed to be able to see the birds in these dark conditions.
Most modern DSLR's introduced within the last three years have very good low-light capabilities. I usually use ISO 1600, which allows me to shoot at 1/125 of a second to freeze most bird movement. You might even go as high as 3200 ISO if you have a camera with exceptional ISO/noise capabilities.
My feeling is that it is better to have a sharp low-light photo with some graininess of the birds than a blurry photo with no graininess. There are software solutions such as Nik Software's Dfine 2.0 that will solve the noise and grainess of high ISO photos.
Long lenses are a must for closeups beginning with a 400mm all the way up to an 800mm lens. Birds in flight coming in for a landing can be covered with a conventional 70mm-300mm lens.
Birds you'll see at the reserve
In addition to sandhill cranes you might see assorted geese, swans, hawks and even American kestrel.
Want to go?
There are two reserves. One is on the north side of the road and the other on the south side.
The south reserve site has a visitor area and is open year-round. The north area is available only to guided tours.
Directions and tour information is available at the California Department of Fish and Game website.
Readers share birding photos
See the birding photographs from other Sacbee.com readers and share your own. It's easy:
• Upload to the gallery at sacbee.com/birdphotos.
• Email your pictures to birds@sacbee.com from your mobile phone or computer. For photos e-mailed to us, the subject of the e-mail will become the title, the sender name will be listed as the author and the body of the e-mail will appear as the photo caption. (Please delete any e-mail signature containing personal information.)
Tips for photographers
• See Dave's bird photos and get more tips in the gallery.
• The California Department of Fish and Game and California Watchable Wildlife sponsor a photography contest with cash and merchandise prizes. The contest runs until Feb. 29, 2012. Additional information with guidelines and submission details is available here.
• If you have questions about how to photograph birds or want to suggest an area we should cover, email me: davehenryphotography@gmail.com.
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