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Sandhill Cranes moving north

12 years ago

I was on a photo outing this morning with a friend in southern Indiana. We spotted appox. 3000-4000 sandhill cranes in cornfields and meadows. As they departed they were flying north by northwest. If you spot and flights or roosting spots please post. I would love to know when they get back to their breeding grounds. Plenty of courtship dancing going on in the flocks we saw today.

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Comments (7)

shillanorth Z4 AB
12 years ago
Well, that is good news, indeed. Thanks for the update and although we are having some rather frosty weather it is good to know they are on their way. I used to see them in the NWT in May/June - always a welcome sight.
countryatheart
12 years ago
I have never seen the courtship but will definitely be watching for it. I spotted a few small flocks over east central Illinois last weekend. Birds are migrating, they seem sure that spring will come. Me, I don't know. In the fall there were sandhill cranes that stopped in a field near where I work (southwest suburbs of Chicago). They stayed a few weeks and then were gone again. I had never seen them that up close before. They are a beautiful bird.
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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.
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No problem with water. The lake is at least 5 feet below usual. Two nests were close enough to see this year, which brought folks out in droves shooting pics of them. I got to see a chick within 3 minutes of hatching (and ashamed to say, I didn't have a camera on me!). We winter in the Ocala National Forest in FL, and there are lots of sandhill cranes. Many live here year around, but some migrate north. The ones who stay all year stroll through yards and mobile home parks. In one park, a couple walks their great dane, and she said the local birds ignore him, the migratory ones whoop and jump around, because they aren't used to him.
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catherinet
12 years ago
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.
beegood_gw
12 years ago
Well I hope they take the scenic route as it's still very cold (in the -30s C ) with several feet of snow here in Alberta. If you see any tell them to SLOOW down.
Aurore
12 years ago
They've had some breeding pairs in Montezuma Wildlife preserve here in New York. I've seen about thirty birds there during migration. Seems like they may be spreading out to other areas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Montezuma
Gjack
Original Author
12 years ago
No whooping cranes in the flocks that we saw. But we did spot a few trumpeter swans while we were out mixed in a large flocks of ducks and geese
User
12 years ago
Dear Gjack:
You say you were on a "photo outing" and saw 3000 to 4000 sand cranes? Where are the pictures?!!! C'mon man! We'd LOVE to see those shots! You did take some, right? Please?

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