Sandhill Cranes Thermalling at Sunflower

I’m embarrassed to admit I had my head down in the cockpit as I was trying to understand how the audio vario from the “See You” app on my phone correlated to what I was seeing on the mechanical vario. I looked up and saw two Sandhill Cranes holding position about 180 degrees opposite me as I circled in the thermal updraft!

First time I have thermalled with those birds, or even seen them from the air, or as far as I can recall, ever seen any at all anywhere near Sunflower.

Good thing we put the sport canopy on the 1-26; it no doubt vastly improved the quality of the photos.

PS: the birds were a lot closer before I finally got them on camera. My current camera with no viewfinder, just LCD screen, is not exactly user-friendly in flight with bright sunlight for an eyeglass-wearing user.

Steve Seibel
WSA 1-26C