Sandhill Cranes Landing at Sunset

Nikon D1h, 500mm f/4 AF-S, Matrix Metering, 1/320sec, f/5.6, ISO 200, RAW Format, Gitzo 410, Wimberly Side Kick.

In eight days at Bosque Del Apache, there was only one that had significant color in the clouds towards the west. At first the image making was incredibly disappointing because the birds weren't arriving until after the sun at begun to set. However, as soon as the skies lit up, the Sandhills began to arrive. I tried very hard to delay shooting until the birds flew through one of the many bands of color as they came in for landing. I cropped about 10% off the top to remove some dead space.