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.

We are close to Westfield WI, so further north and west of Horicon. We didn't have any nesting real close to us until this pair came. We saw them pair up, they do this dance that was really neat to watch. This will be their third year here. I was so thrilled to see them this morning! They are the first migratory birds that I've seen back. Glad they survived their travels. Last year I visited the international crane foundation. They do amazing work there. There is always an ad in the local paper in spring asking for volunteer counters. I hope to be able to participate this year. Their population in our area is doing well. Next to the loon I love their call the best. Expect robins and red winged blackbirds to follow soon after the cranes.

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. :-)

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.