We went to take pictures of red-crowned cranes
We arrived at Ito Tancho Sanctuary in Tsurui Village by driving about two hours, but there were no cranes at all. I was told by the staff at the Nature Center that "This year was warm and all the cranes left. They can find their own food anywhere so they won't come here any more this year."
There is another place where we might be able to see cranes, but it would be another one hour drive, and still we might not find them. We gave up seeing the cranes on this trip.
Still, with faint hope, we drove around near the village to look for them by car. Then suddenly I found the cranes, eating something in a field. There were more than 50 of them.
I took many photos of them. I wanted some photos of them flying so we waited patiently for them to finish eating. There were some other people who stopped their cars to look at the cranes, but eventually no one else was there.
When I finally gave up and started walking towards the car, they immediately started flying.
I was able to take some good photos of them flying. I am looking forward to checking all the photos on a big monitor at home.