There are no air traffic controllers for birds but what might have been a collision course between a small group of Sandhill Cranes and what I believe is a flock of Common Mergansers flying perpendicular to them, was nothing more than an illusion, created by a telephoto lens compressing the distance between the subject and its background. I took the photograph on this day (December 13) in 2018 at Bosque del Apache as the cranes flew into their nighttime roost late in the afternoon. I missed going to Bosque del Apache this year but I’m hoping to see and photograph Sandhill Cranes in my own backyard (not literally) in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.