Kate; The state of Kansas opened in 1993 a season for hunting Sandhill Cranes- thus the seven (7) hunters in Kansas last year who shot and killed 2 of the 3 Whoopers that morning not only tarnished the public image of "ethical hunters" and undermined the DNR reputation for wildlife stewardship, but caused great harm by reducing the population of adult Whoopers traversing from Canada(Wood Buffalo) to Texas by 3% percent. The other bad thing about this is it took "other" people to report the shootings ,after finding wounded Whoopers.- What are we teaching our illustrious "gun-slingers", "Humanity" going Backwards. --------------------------------------------------------- - On March 15,2005 another one of the youngsters from the 2004 class of Whoopers who left Wisconsin last fall following the trike planes , and have stayed in Florida was found eaten by a bobcat. The remaining 12 youngsters from 2004 class should be starting thier 1200 mile journey back to Necedah anytime soon- this time they are on "their own", no one to lead and guide them, they might even wonder all over the Midwest Area, just like some who wondered off into Michigan, one who stayed in Illinos all year, it's nice hear their KREER- kREER overhead when they spiral, float and head North to the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

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.

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.

Sounds like mute swans to me. They do make an odd whistle as they fly. The sound is from their wings. As for size, mute swans do have about the same wingspan as whoopers-about 8'. No black on the wings is a dead giveaway as are those long necks. Neck length is also about the same on the 2 birds. Another dead giveaway you'd have seen on cranes, is the long, trailing legs. Cranes are also very gregarious, with whoopers usually hanging with the much larger numbers of sandhills. Another large, white bird with an 8' wingspan and black on wings, is the white pelican. It can be distinguised from the whooper from a longer distance, by the fact, the black is not just on the primaries, but the secondaries as well, bordering much the length of the wings.