Short final

You can always tell when a crane is about to touchdown. There’s kind of a rhythm as the circle in unison wheel around, arch their wings, drop their legs and slow to a gentle landing. All you need is an air traffic control calling their pattern.

Last Sunday’s sunset arrival had hundreds of cranes banking into the short final to land in the line of cranes steadily growing in the wetland. As the pink hues tinged the sky the line of arriving cranes grew on the horizon.