The cranes roost in water or watery marsh grass area to avoid predators. Foxes come in mind here in Japan, taking the role of coyotes in North America and prey on cranes.

We got there at approximately 6:30AM and we are talking about a very cold winter morning in Hokkaido. We saw a row of wildlife photographers, I would say 35-40 people that had their setup on the bridge when we arrived there. Even using a 2X TC at the maximum focal length setting on a crop camera did get sufficient reach. In that case, I relied on the image to convey the mood of the morning. Caused by the difference in temperature between water and air, fog usually develops during a night in which the sky is clear, the air temperature is cool, and the wind is calm, like in the situation that day. The fog diffused and lowered the contrast enough to render pastel colors of the early and warm light of the morning sun. The tree branches were partly frosted in ice, lowering the contrast further.