This was the best `I could do after scrambling from my living room chair and grabbing my Canon Powershot, then shooting into the sun while also trying to initiate an iPhone audio recording of crying coyotes the cranes apparently stirred up with their age-old trilling from 10,000 feet.
At least I can still hear the birds approaching from inside my house and actually see them before messing with all the technical stuff. Most years I am better prepared: Out walking and waiting for them around 3 p.m. when they year-to-year seek out thermals this time of year to fly south from the north end of the Sandias. Northeast Placitas is a good vantage but I have also enjoyed seeing them fly downriver from rock overlooks at Tsankawi in the Jemez.
Sorry for a lot of excuses for a lousy photo but I always get excited by seeing the ancient survivors overhead, flying again down the Rio Grande.
dream ranch 
Beautiful shot