Cranes on the pond

Yesterday after the fish were caught and canned, Alicia and Justin hauled firewood and Brian worked on somebody's boat. While I was waiting for the canner to cool so I could unload it, I noticed something out on the pond. It turned out to be our cranes. It was so sunny, I couldn't see what the pictures looked like until later in the evening. One is just what the pond looks like from the deck. You can see that it is getting more grown over every year. We don't get to see as much of the pond as we used to, but it is much safer for the ducks to have places of retreat when the eagles attack. Charlotte

We have a pair of wild ducks - maybe 2 - that are nesting on the pond this year. I don't know where the cranes are nesting, but it is somewhere in the neighborhood. On Alicia's blog, you can see closer views of the cranes. My dad asked me which was the male and which the female, and I don't have a clue. I would assume the brighter colored one is the male. In these pictures, they are too far away to tell the difference.