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Sandhill Cranes will nest almost anywhere. They have been seen nesting on tiny little islands on Floating Island lake in Yellowstone National Park, out in the middle of open fields and in the case of this one, in a field of reeds that make up a small wetlands in the Blacktail creek area.

Choosing a field of reeds doesn’t seem like an unusual place to nest until you factor in bad luck. Normally this Sandhill crane could count on brooding her eggs without mishap, unless an opportunistic coyote came along and tried for an easy meal. But what she didn’t know was her nesting place was in a natural crossing area for some of the parks main predators, a pack of wolves on one side and a black bear on the other. Blacktail flats sees a lot of animal movement. The blacktail pack of wolves moves through the area constantly and it is also a place black bears seem to like.

This day I was shooting the Blacktail pack of wolves devouring a buffalo carcass on her right and if you could look to her left there is a small pond like many that dot this Blacktail Flats area, which is out of the frame. Swimming across the pond was a good-sized black bear.

All of this activity was taking place in an area perhaps 300 yards across. First I’d shoot the wolves for a while then I’d swing the lens over to the pond with the bear in it and then back to the wolves again. As I made the traverse I noticed movement in my view finder and up pops this Sandhill crane who had the misfortune to put her nest in the middle of the wildlife freeway.

The bear was obviously hungry and spent his time rooting around digging in the ground for grubs, eating grass and slowly working his way towards the Sandhills nest. The wolves were too busy finishing off the buffalo carcass and hadn’t noticed the bear. If they had it would have been very likely they would have run right over the crane and her nest to run the bear off. Helping themselves to the crane and her eggs on the way. They don’t like to  share. But she never flinched or made any movement that gave away her position. The bear noticed the wolves, the wolves noticed the bear. The bear took off rather than deal with seven or eight wolves and the wolves stayed and finished off the carcass. And the Sandhill crane put her head back down and didn’t move a feather, and what could have been major drama was over as fast as it started.

It’s unusual to get that much wildlife activity in a small area like that but every once in a while the photographer gets lucky. So did the crane.