Saturday Snapshot: Symphony in Silver and Grey

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Last week, Denis and I celebrated my birthday and our anniversary by staying in a small cottage in the mountains just north of the Mexican border in Bisbee, Arizona. For almost the entire length of our stay, we didn't have any sort of internet connection, but we really didn't miss it because it's such a wonderful place to relax, and there are so many things to see and do if we feel like going out and about.

We did feel like getting out and about one afternoon, so we drove over to Whitewater Draw in the Sulphur Springs Valley of Cochise County, Arizona. (This one county is larger than the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined, for any of you trivia lovers out there.) The Sulphur Springs Valley is one of the premier birding spots in the world and is well-known for the thousands of sandhill cranes that winter there each year. Denis and I always have to spend some time watching them because it's so much fun. I have to admit that, because of the light, I was reminded of James McNeill Whistler, a late nineteenth-century painter who preferred naming his work things like "Nocturne in Black and Gold" or "Symphony in White," etc.

Now that I've said that, you'll understand the title of this post. It was a day of silver and grey at Whitewater Draw. Hundreds of grey birds, silver water, and reflections that blended one seamlessly into the other. Click on any of the photos to view them in larger sizes.

Whitewater Draw, Cochise County, Arizona

The photo above is of one small slice of Whitewater Draw. The freckles on the farthest edges of the water are sandhill cranes. If the sky is left in the photos, you have no clue what I'm talking about with my "symphony of silver and grey"!

Another shot of Whitewater Draw

Snow geese make a ribbon of white amongst the cranes

See what I mean about the reflections?

A symphony....

Once you crop a bit of the surroundings away from the birds, you can begin to see how this turns into a Whistler-like study of silvers and greys... where images blend into one another so well that you have to look closely to see if what you're looking at is bird or water.

Can you tell that I can spend hours and hours at Whitewater Draw?