picture of the day

Crane dance

20 Comments

Cranes frolic in the heavy snow at the Akan International Crane Center in Kushiro, Hokkaido.

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James Sewell took a great picture.He closed up on a couple of Crane frolicing in the snow-white winter. White and black colors make the picture look awesome. Both cranes have dark brown feathers on their heads like their crowns. Especially, we still see other cranes in the background.

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Crane Sumo!! More exciting then real Sumo! Awesome picture!!!

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I think the biggest mistak JAL ever made was taking the crane image off the tails of their planes. Show a little national pride JAL.

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Average shot, the birds in the backgorund clutter the heads of the birds in the foreground, the photog shud have either taken the pic from a lower angle to lower the birds oin the back ground or just submitted a diff pic, unless this was the only decent shot he got off & then his camera died I wudnt print it.

Moderator: Please note that there are no such words as "shud," "wudnt" and so on. A minimum level of English is required please.

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Nice Legs on all those Birds. Very nice Photo.

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Crane Sumo!! More exciting then real Sumo!

But is this fight fixed too?

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I think we are supposed to comment on how beautiful these birds look, rather than the quality of the picture... but yes, I've seen better pictures.

I hope they don't catch the bird flu.

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Red-crowned crane population is about 900 in Hokkaido. They are rare cranes in the world. James Sewell might use a long shot to catch this moment of Hokkaido red-crowned crane frolicing around the beauty of white snow landscape. He focused on only two cranes on the foreground while they were lifting up their wings on contrast of relaxing cranes on the background. It is a great moment of Hokkaido season.

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I agree. The old JAL logo with the crane was great. I love these birds. The JAL logo also was in an old design textbook I had, as an example of good design. They should paint the planes like these birds, then I bet everyone would fly them!

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alphabee:

" I think the biggest mistak JAL ever made was taking the crane image off the tails of their planes. Show a little national pride JAL. "

They are going to put it back. And the photo is cool.

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Cool photo! Very artistic!

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So beautiful!!!! It is a lovely picture, very elegant and heartwarming because it seems the cranes are in love and enchanting each other. i think it is a love dance.

minimum level of English is required please. Mods, you are too cute.

Hey, Mods, now that I have complimented you can I ask for next picture of the day I would like to see here:

I want to see the storks. Cute Kangaroos. The new Ueno pandas.

Thanks in advance and congrats on the lovely choice of the picture.

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Crane Sumo!!

Not sumo. It is called pure love. Maybe you have not experienced it that is why you cannot recognize it when you see it. Cranes can teach humans how to love.

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Cranes are beautiful bird but they might be dangerous if they were infected with virus, so let us stay away.

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Cranes referred as the bird of happiness or tsuru in Japanese may conceivabably be the oldest bird on earth. There is fossil proof that they existed over 60 million years ago. In Japanese tradition, cranes has been a symbol of eternal youth, wisdom and stands for good fortune and longevity because of its fabled life span of a thousand years. The powerful wings of the crane were believed to be able to convey souls up to paradise and to carry people to higher levels of spiritual enlightenment. Over time, the crane has evolved as a subject of tradition of origami. It is said that a thousand folded cranes, one for each year of its life, makes a wish come true. Today this practice of folding 1,000 cranes represents a form of healing and hope during challenging times and are traditionally offered at shrines or temples with prayer, based on the belief that the effort to fold such a large number will surely be rewarded. Chains are often given to someone suffering from illness, as a prayer for recovery, a wish for happiness and expression of sympathy and peace. A prayer often spoken over time by mothers seeking the protection of cranes has been: "O flock of heavenly cranes cover my child or us with your wings."

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I got a chuckle that cranes "frolic" at all. Looks to me like they're getting into the springtime "Show Off For The Females" mode where the males battle for pecking order. (hmm... I guess that's where the idiom came from, huh?)

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A true interepretation of Crane (peace) should not be forgotten.

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Are those metal tags on their right legs that I see. If so, tisk tisk.

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Within Asia the white crane is the bird of peace. Originally it was the sort of peace that comes with prosperity and friendship, such that war is not even considered. The crane took on even greater significance as a peace symbol within Japan after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since that time many peace organizations and unique programs and projects have developed worldwide. In my view, peace education and activities can provide opportunity to learn and grow and develop critical thinking skills on issues of peace and conflict resolution through participation in discussion group. This will furthur build positive leadrship in the comminity and strong global citizenship for today's children and the future generation. After all, the understanding of peace is so important.

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The picture is fine and the cranes are as ever elegant.

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