Cranes at Lac du Der

We are visiting good friends in Saint Dizier, a medium-sized town in the Champagne in northeastern France.  Nearby is the Lac du Der, a large artificial lake which provides part of the water supply and serves as a refuge for thousands  of Common Cranes (Grus grus).  Normally virtually all the cranes have migrated south by this time of winter, but this year many have stayed.  During a two-hour outing we saw several hundred--mostly in flight, but some on the ground; these were the closest.  We were on a busy highway and could only stop briefly--and I had not brought my proper long lens from Paris--so I was delighted to get this shot (it was cloudy with bits of rain, around sundown).

More on our visit tomorrow.