On my commute drive I saw sandhill cranes flying down to the empty corn field next to the road! I had only 5 minutes or so but that's no excuse not to take pictures, is it?
With 06 lens.
Sandhill Cranes by
k kwb, on Flickr
Then I quickly changed to my small 250mm telescope, ISO 400, 1/1250 sec.
Sandhill Cranes (and a mallard) by
k kwb, on Flickr
The cranes are 3 to 4 ft high (about 0.9 to 1.2 meters) and the telescope would be 1100mm-ish equivalent focal length if this was a full frame sensor, so you can see that this was actually pretty far. I'd say I was 100 to 140 yards away (about 90 to 130 meters) from the flock, probably a safe distance for them, but I knew I'd likely slam the door if I got out of the car in a hurry and that might scare them off, so I stayed inside.
They were to the right and slightly toward the back of the car from where I was able to park, and I had to take the most awkward shooting position, sitting in the drivers' seat, my right elbow pressed against the back support, my right hand on the camera and my left hand holding the telescope, shooting through the open passenger side window.
I think the focus was somewhat closer to me than the crane's head I wanted to focus on, and the motion blurr was also a problem, but I'm super happy that I got this one at all. After all, this is why I carry my Q7 kit with me!