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The Garden Party

Sandhill Cranes heading north

16 years ago

I was outside earlier and heard the Sandhill Cranes

on their way north.

It is 73 right now and was 78 earlier.

We'll have some fierce thunder boomers later.

I surely enjoyed this spring like day.

I even bought a new bird bath after I saw birds

bathing in a mud puddle in my backyard at the new house

today. I felt sorry for them but elated with the variety

of birds I saw in the yard. You will not believe how that

lifted my spirits.

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Comments (6)

calliope
16 years ago
That's totally cool. If I remember right, somebody posted a thread before about the Sandhill Cranes some other year, was it you?

I'm also glad to hear you are moving to a place with birds already on hand. I don't think I could live anywhere I didn't hear birdsong.

Rains here, too although not as warm as they'd predicted for today. They said high sixties but never made it past high fifties. I'm ok with that. It's still wonderful.
Janis_G
Original Author
16 years ago
Suzy, Gandle and I both have posted about the Cranes.
Like you, I never ever want to live where I can't hear the birds singing.
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Its really odd. Common cranes
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Comments (10)
Can you even imagine 25,000 to 35,000 of these magnificent birds taking off from the river at sunrise. Awe inspiring, Leone was actually crying with emotion, their cry is so eerie and with that many at once it is unlike anything you can imagine. As they circled from the river they blotted out the sun which was just peeping over the horizon. We actually have a smaller group of birds here than they do about 50 miles east of here so it is hard to imagine what the spectacle must be. There was a nice story in the Omaha paper yeasterday about the volunteers that come here every year to help out with the hordes of visitors that visit the blinds and sanctuarys, one was from British Columbia, he has been coming here for the last 14 years and says he really isn't a bird watcher but the sight of close to a half million of these large prehistoric birds has captivated him. He talked about a woman from New York state that came out to a blind one sunrise and did nothing but complain, too cold, too dark and too early but when the birds left the river she began crying, touched his arm and apologized.. Even someone that isn't greatly into nature would have a hard time not being impressed when the birds blacken the sky and begin calling.
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looking for Sandhill Cranes in NE Florida
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Comments (7)
While on the plane, on my way to Florida this past January, I was reading an article on how 'scarce' the sandhill crane was. Well, you can imagine my amazement when I was driving in the Orlando area, doing the touristy things, but to see a sandhill wandering around on someone's lawn and another pair hanging out on the side of the road! So now I am sort of wondering about that article. :-)
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Sandhill Cranes moving north
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Comments (7)
Cool! I live in central Indiana and we heard quite a few of them last week. A place in northern Indiana (Jasper-Pulaski game preserve) is an area where they stop over in the Fall migration (maybe spring too?). We went one year and around dusk, they started flying in from all directions. According to the DNR, their numbers reach 30,000-40,000 that stop there. I guess they spend the night in a marsh area nearby and then continue their journey. We're under their flyway, and I look forward to seeing/hearing them every Fall and early Spring. The Indiana DNR keeps tracks of their numbers, so that people who want to see them stop-over in northern Indiana know when to go to see the most. About 30 years ago, when we first moved out here into the country, they landed in a field next to us. So neat!! 2 years ago, I heard them in January. I could never figure out why I heard them at that time.....although I think that was just before our drought.....so maybe they knew something we didn't. Here's a pic I got of them a couple years ago. Wish I could have gotten a closer pic. I like to look for the occasional whooping crane that sometimes travels with them, but haven't seen any yet.
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What kind of cranes?
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Comments (5)
Beautiful pictures! Yes, they are sandhill cranes. Whooping cranes, along with being very rare, are almost entirely white, with mainly black wing tips visible in flight. Their migration patterns seem to be more responsive to local weather conditions than is the case with other birds. Here in NM, there is a huge wintering site for these cranes at Bosque del Apache NWR, but their numbers there fluctuate regularly in response to storms or warm periods. For them, an easy daylong flight of a couple hundred miles can mean the difference between nasty winter conditions, and nice mild overwintering grounds. This is exactly the case for the cranes at Monte Vista, CO and the Middle Rio Grande Valley in NM. The former is used by the birds in the fall, while the latter is good all winter!
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anneliese_32
16 years ago
Yikes! The Whooping Cranes on their ultra-light led migration got to Florida just last week! Hope they don't turn around right away too.
gandle
16 years ago
You better encourage the cranes to stay there for a month or so. Below zero tonight and snow covering everything.
wandaredhead
16 years ago
I heard a cricket last night.
Ooohhh, it sounded so nice.

Can't wait for the frogs to start.

Heard a mocking bird threatening one of the cats a day or two ago.

Such wonderful sounds!!
anneliese_32
16 years ago
This afternoon I heared a couple of sandhills heading north. I hope it was just a couple of birds who got blown north from TN by last nights storm and the wind was still going pretty strongly northwards at the time. We could have done without that mess last night.

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