Crane 白鶴

One would think that with the numbers of cranes in almost every country in the Pacific Rim, I would be able to get a good photo of a crane somewhere. Cranes have a significance in Chinese culture. They are a very common symbol in Chinese paintings, symbolizing wisdom 智慧 or longevity 長壽. Next to flamingoes 火烈鳥, and plastic lawn flamingoes ruined that a little for me though I get nostalgic a little for them now, cranes are one of the most elegant birds.

For some reason that white 白鶴 or blue crane 藍鶴 with nice plumage is only just out of the reach of my rather limited telephoto lens. Well, that was until yesterday. We took a mini-vacation down in the south for the weekend and Sunday afternoon I went on a photo expedition. As you can see, he (unlike most humans, it is the male bird that is more nicely dressed up 一般來講公鳥比較漂亮) was posing not too far away so I could snap a great shot of him.