Dipping before liftoff
Monday a professional photographer I know told me to watch for this. Sometimes as they are preparing to lift off, the cranes will dip their breasts in the water just before they fly. Well after hearing that I watched for it the last two days. This image shows it clearly. This was taken immediately after the previously posted image. As you can see from the positioning it's the same 3 birds and the one on the right dipped his breasts into the water as he is about to fly away.