Ellie was called to baby sit our step great grandson (I feel old just writing that) and I joined her later in the morning.  I got some shots of the three year old who is handsome, intelligent and delightful.  We aren’t directly related so that is an unbiased judgment.  His granddad came back and we left.

I went to lunch with my friend Sally – she’s an excellent photographer and the one who came up with the expression ‘wondering around’.  I had my camera with me so after lunch I did a little shooting in the parking lot of the restaurant which is next to an old concrete grain storage tower. 

I don’t know that I made the most of the opportunities but there were some interesting possibilities.

These were nice but not that satisfying.  Had the shooting day ended then I would have felt that it was OK and maybe I need to get out tomorrow.

I got home and that was when the fun started.  After greeting the dogs (they thought I had been away for days, instead of hours) I went back outside and heard a call I had been waiting for – sandhill cranes.  Once you hear their call you are unlikely to forget it.  You can hear them here. They stop over at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area about 100 miles north and west of Indianapolis and then head south.  Fortunately we seem to be on their path.

I ran back in and put the 120-400 mm lens on the camera and went back out.  That wave of cranes had gone but one of the local squirrels was in a nearby tree.

A few minutes later another wave of cranes came over and I was able to get into position for them.  Here are just a few of them.

They passed over and when it was clear there wouldn’t be any more, at least for awhile, I headed back toward the house.  That is when the hawk showed up.

Not a shot I would submit for a competition, I include it to give some sense of what was going on this afternoon.  A squirrel, sandhill cranes and a hawk, all in less than nine minutes.  It pays to keep your camera handy with charged batteries.

Over lunch, Sally and I were talking about how there are virtually always opportunities for photography; it is a question of being ready and seeing the possibilities.  A lot of the time those opportunities are rather subtle but there is nothing subtle about squirrels, sandhill cranes and hawks.  Now there is something to wonder about.