Sandhill Cranes on the Move

"Ka-roooo!" In Central Kentucky, including Louisville, the cry goes out, "I hear Sandhills!" and all the birders rush outside, binoculars in hand.  In November, these large birds migrate south, and in February, they are ready to head back north again. We wonder why they bother to migrate at all sometimes.

Sandhill Cranes

On Feb 11, as the snow started to melt, we decided it was safe to leave home, and went to look for cranes at the Cecilia fire station, situated in the middle of Hardin County farmlands. We found absolutely THOUSANDS of them foraging. These cranes are omnivorous, although in our area they tend to feed in corn stubble, avoiding the soy bean fields. Snow doesn't seem to bother them. 

The range map shows them as mostly a western/central bird, the Greater Sandhill subspecies. But the Lesser Sandhills migrate right across our area in Kentucky. Unfortunately, they have a reputation as the "rib-eye of the sky," and hunting is permitted in Kentucky and Tennessee during a limited time. Every year we hear reports that Whooping Cranes have also been shot.

Adult cranes have grey feathers. They paint them with iron-laden mud and vegetation to turn them rust-color for camouflage during breeding season. They have a bright red skin patch on their forehead. We always look for a large white crane with the flocks, since Whooping Cranes sometimes travel with the Sandhills. Look closely though, because the sun can make them look white when they aren't. The red forehead will give a positive ID.

Sandhill Cranes mate for life, choosing their partners based on dancing displays. Displaying birds stretch their wings, pump their heads, bow, and leap into the air. Although each female usually lays two eggs, only one nestling typically survives to fledge.

During migration and winter the family units group together with other families and nonbreeders, forming loose roosting and feeding flocks—in some places numbering in the tens of thousands.

“Marshland Elegy” is a chapter in “A Sand County Almanac and sketches here and there,”where Aldo Leopold tells the story of the noble Crane and of how the crane marsh has been displaced by the short-sighted and wasteful ‘progress’ of human beings.

In the 1930s, Sandhill cranes were generally extirpated east of the Mississippi River but their populations have recovered with there being an estimated 98,000 in the region in 2018, a substantial increase over the previous year. The greater sandhill crane proper initially suffered most; by 1940, probably fewer than 1,000 birds remained. Populations have since increased greatly again. At nearly 100,000, they are still fewer than the lesser sandhill crane, which, at about 400,000 individuals continent-wide, is the most plentiful crane alive today.

Sandhill Cranes Kentucky Stopover

It's such a thrill to hear Sandhill Cranes calling ka-roooo from high in the sky as they migrate over Kentucky. If you look online, most of the articles are about the Greater Sandhills which gather in such large numbers along the Platte River in Nebraska.

Decent numbers of Lesser Sandhills migrate on an easterly path over Kentucky and Tenneessee too, and many are now stopping in Hardin County, KY, just south of Louisville. It's an easy hour's drive to see them.  The small community of Cecilia has a bank, two churches, and railroad tracks running through the closely clustered houses. When you reach the firehouse, you are in Crane Country!

Kentucky has a Sandhill Crane hunting season and 96 Sandhill Cranes were reported killed this year (Dec. 13 – Jan. 11). 400 are permitted by law. The Cranes have always know to stick to the middle of the fields. A good birder friend says you won't see them in soybean fields, so we looked more in the corn stubble. These fields aren't particularly marshy, and Cranes favor wetlands. You can usually find them around drainage ditches between the fields though The problem is finding a safe place to stop your car. The local folks drive pretty fast, and there aren't any shoulders on most of the roads. Of course, you can't pull into someone's driveway either, since that's private property. One year I got lucky and they were right up next to the fence and I could get close photos without leaving my car.

Dick and I speculated about how the Cranes decided to forage in one field instead of one right next to it. If it were sunny, I'd guess they might see kernels of corn shining in the sun. But it was cloudy and very windy on Sunday. Maybe they just remember from year to year. The omnivorous birds dine on grains, plant tubers, mice, snakes, insects and worms. Farmers like them because they probe into the soil and aerate it. If they are migrating, how do they know when or whether to move farther north. We haven't had any snow to speak of, but it's deeper nearer the Great Lakes. I guess they'd go south for a while if the food supply became frozen here.

Whoopin' It Up

There are lots of good reasons for whoopin' it up. The snow last Saturday was absolutely beautiful. Monday it rained and everything turned to ice, but I did NOT fall and break anything - good news. Had a good day birding in Lexington yesterday. We didn't find the Short-eared Owl, but saw plenty of good ducks. The news came in last night that Sandhill Cranes were moving into their regular feeding-resting area in nearby Hardin County.

As I drove slowly down the country road (speeding up a bit when traffic honked at me), I saw clumps of gray Sandhill Cranes in the fields. Since the snow melted, there were plenty of casual ponds and lots of mud. The cranes were delighted, and ranged through the corn stubble poking around for anything edible. Nothing was frozen! Happy Day!

But one big puddle had three WHITE blobs along with the gray ones. OMG! That field has Whooping Cranes!! I pulled into the farmer's drive, and prayed that I wouldn't get stuck in the mud, as I climbed out with my scope. Two birds looked like adults, and the third was a little muddier looking - maybe a juvenile?

I learned some important lessons today though. When my 60x zoom camera is in super ultra zoom mode, it does not focus clearly. When birds are way out in the middle of a field, or a river, the poor little laser that ranges for the focus just can't find the target well. So things are a little fuzzy when zoomed all the way. Sigh. Lesson 2, trying to digiscope with a cell phone is not a good way to get distant photos either. First, I had trouble seeing through the scope lens via the phone's camera, and even then, the focus wasn't as good as it was when just my eye looked through the scope. As well. We must learn and accept these life lessons, mustn't we. Anyway, I was really excited to see Whooping Cranes!

 

I love to hear Sandhills calling as they fly. Doesn't it seem awfully early for these birds to be flying north? It's just a lucky chance that the snow melted, and they can find food today. According to Ky Dept of Fish and Wildlife Resources, the total number of birds around Barren River Lake went from 24K to 1.8K in a week, and there were 11K at Cecilia yesterday. They are on the move today with flocks going north. When they move to the next stop, they might be covered in snow and ice again. Just enjoy the cranes...

 

 

 

Sandhill Crane Festival

As we arrived at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, a heavy layer of frost coated everything. Only two or three birds could be seen through the fog, and even they disappeared as the fog thickened. I assumed there was water somewhere, but we sure couldn't see it. The strange rattling kar-r-r-o-o-o drifted up to the birders sipping coffee as they waited for the fog to lift. Sounding and looking like ghosts, one or two of these large birds appeared and faded into the fog calling... By 10:30 we had enough light to see the water, and hoped to see thousands of Sandhill Cranes.

Birders are used to this though. "Oh, yeah," someone says, "We have thousands of _____ (fill in the blank with the name of the birds you want to see)." But it rained all week in Tennessee and most of them must have moved elsewhere. The birds we saw, however, were beautiful as they grazed in the corn stubble along the water's edge. All cranes are omnivorous. Sandhill Cranes are generalists and feed on a wide variety of plant tubers, grains, small vertebrates (e.g. mice and snakes), and invertebrates such as insects or worms. Sandhills find these foods in uplands and in shallow wetlands. Like most cranes, flightless chicks forage primarily on a diet of insects and other protein filled foods during their early stages of rapid growth. The Sandhill's tendency to feed on plant tubers creates conflicts with farming. Sandhill Cranes are adept at probing in the ground and finding planted agricultural seeds such as corn. When large flocks of cranes feed on planted fields, the damage they cause to an unprotected crop can be severe enough to force the farmer to replant the entire field.

A speaker from the International Crane Foundation, in Baraboo, WI, expanded our knowledge of cranes. The different sub-species of Sandhill Crane vary greatly in size and weight. Lesser Sandhills, who breed at more northern latitudes such as the arctic, are the smallest, weighing on average about 6-7 pounds and standing 3-3.5 feet tall. At the other end of the extreme, temperate-nesting Greater Sandhills (the ones we saw) are the largest sub-species and average 4.5-5 feet tall and 10-14 pounds. Body plumage is characterized by varying shades of gray. In many areas, wild Sandhills preen iron-rich mud into their feathers creating a deep rusty brown hue which lasts during spring and summer. As fall advances, these rusty feathers molt and the birds return to their grayish appearance.

We all scanned the air for more birds. You could find a few flying together, but if you looked closely, more and more skeins (I think that's what they are called) could be seen in the distance. The sun was warm and bright, and I think many of the cranes took advantage of the good weather to continue their migration southward. I'm not really sure how much farther these birds might go, since it is the middle of January already. Different populations travel to different wintering grounds. Dick and some of the others saw a few Whooping Cranes, but I missed them.

Throughout the day, we had great luck finding raptors. Several different Bald Eagles, both adults and immatures came to the Refuge, along with a Golden Eagle. As we debated the identity of these brown eagles, one birder came up with a good rule of thumb. "Think chocolate," he advised. "The Golden Eagle is the color of milk chocolate and the Bald Eagle is more like dark chocolate." Sounds good to me! We also spied a Merlin, American Kestrels, lots of Red Tail Hawks, a pair of Northern Harriers and a Cooper's Hawk. In my book, this certainly made up for a rather slow day for the Cranes!

The Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival is run entirely by volunteers, and they don't charge anything to attend. Kudos to everyone who worked so hard all weekend - the volunteer birders, shuttle bus drivers, TWRA, and all the sponsors and vendors. It's hard to choose between wonderful presentations in a room vs. freezing your toes off in the field for the bird of a lifetime! Brian "Fox" Ellis, the storyteller, attended the dinner Saturday night as Charles Darwin. Since I studied Darwin after our trip to the Galapagos, I especially enjoyed his performance. I understand, however, that the little country school that serves as home base for the festival, will be closing next year, and hope they can make new arrangements. After all, you never know which year will be the one when there actually ARE thousands of cranes to be seen! Birders are always hopeful!

A Promise of Spring

In mid-February, Mother Nature has given us a break from the dreary relentless winter cold, snow and wind. Instead, we are enjoying a hint of Spring to come. Everyone notices different signs of Spring. I saw the green sprouts of wild onions and poison hemlock among the brown grasses at a park. But the bird songs are always the most reliable clue, and I begin to notice them every year after Groundhogs Day in early February. You can't mistake the conk-kor-ee of the first Red Winged Blackbird in the cattails.

But you really know Spring will come when you hear the first flock of Sandhill Cranes flying north overhead, with their unique call. Does anyone know how to describe that call? The International Crane Foundation website says they call a "loud, rattling kar-r-r-o-o-o," while the Baker Sanctuary generally describes it as a repeated series of trumpeting “garoo-a-a-a.” See, they can't come up with anything recognizable either. But you know it when you hear them, and I always smile and run outside to look. The Kentucky bird list has been full of people posting their sucess with the Cranes at the small community of Cecilia, Ky, about an hour's drive from Louisville. My birding buddy Del says our usual Crane locale in Brownstown, IN has no Cranes at all this year. Apparently the farmers planted soy beans rather than corn last year due to late season flooding, and the Cranes prefer to feed in the corn stubble.

So I got the directions, and drove out in the country this morning. The bird list has reported thousands of Cranes in Cecilia over the last few weeks. Either I'm at the tail end of the migration, or between shifts for the birds. In Indiana, we've seen them by the thousands in one or two fields, all calling at once in other years. However, this time, the largest group I saw at one time numbered about 200. Otherwise, I noticed smaller family-sized groups of 12 or so spread out in many different fields. I'm happy with my trip though, because I was able to get much closer to them for photographs than ever before. My Prius with the silent electric motor let me glide along the back roads, taking photos of birds just over the fence.

Remembering Del's comment, I did notice that more birds were in the corn fields, and only rarely did I see them in soy bean fields, and none, of course, in cattle pastures. No grain to glean there. A bit of water in a ditch or small creek is a big attration too.

Other country birds sang for me this morning too. The Meadlowlarks were particularly vocal, teasing me from the distance. The birdsong CD we have describes their song as "Spring of the Earth" and I thought they were absolutely right today. If I heard and and tried to find one, the bird always flew away if I even walked in its direction. When I don't have my camera, they will perch on a fencepost 20 feet away!

Another bird I don't find around home too much is the Horned Lark. I saw this one fly across the road before me in a brown blur. When I found it, I was delighted to hear its high pitched chi-dit, seerp/tseep, and buzzy calls. You won't hear this guy if your car window is up or the radio is turned on.

Spring makes the Cranes dance with joy too! Just watch the video I took of their dancing.

Christmas Cranes

It's the Monday before Christmas. I cut my yoga class to help give meds at the Raptor Center, and started writing down everything that needs to be done before Christmas - final gifts, wrapping, groceries, laundry, menus, etc. Then I receive an email that says "We have about 4,000 Sandhill Cranes and several Whooping Cranes with them. Anyone who wants to see them should join us tomorrow morning." Well, I can't pass up an opportunity like this, can I? I'll get the Christmas stuff taken care of, eventually...

Ewing Bottoms is in the flood plain of the East Fork of the White River, near Brownstown, IN. My fellow Crane watchers were two of my expert buddies, with Swarovski scopes, and another man who lives nearby. Apparently, the Cranes did not stop here when he was a boy, only starting to arrive recently. We discussed what might have caused this change, and decided that farming practices made the difference. About 10 years ago, the farmers started to harvest the crops using machinery that stripped more of the plant stalks out of the field, while allowing seeds to drop to the ground. When it rains and the fields get muddy, the Cranes are delighted and land for a rest during migration.

They didn't seem as loud this time, although they talked constantly. We saw much more dancing than the last time we went to Ewing Bottom though. The weather changed from hazy to clearing to windy and cold. The light was never what we needed for good photos, and the cranes preferred the center of the fields, about 3/4 of a mile away from the road. No close shots today! The Whooping Cranes were the real excitement. Through the scope we could see two, three, and sometimes four Whoopers out in the field. When they took off, the Whooping Cranes were distinct, with much larger wings and black primary feathers against the white. A person from the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin drive across all the little roads around the fields, trying to find them with her radio antenna. Apparently their transmitters were broken, or the batteries had died. What a way to visit Indiana!

It was a great day for raptors too. I must have seen 12-15 Kestrels during the day. Just try to take a photo of a hovering Kestrel, while driving down a country lane, trying not to lose the guy with the good scope who leads the caravan!

We sighted a Merlin in a treetop - a lifer for me - who was chased away after a few minutes by a Kestrel who wanted that branch for himself. Several Harriers quartered the fields, and a Bald Eagle kept an eye on everyone. And yes, there will be enough time to prepare for Christmas festivities!

Aldo Leopold Legacy

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." Aldo Leopold

Until Dick brought home a copy of A Sandhill County Almanac, I had never heard of Aldo Leopold. Now I see his thoughts and quotes so many places. He is often regarded as the father of conservation and land ethics. He was instrumental in developing the proposal to manage the Gila National Forest as a wilderness area, the first such designation, in 1924. After a transfer to Wisconsin, he continued to pursue difficult questions about how people change land and how people might be encouraged to practice conservation rather than exploiting the wealth of the land. He worked as an educator, philosopher, ecologist and wilderness advocate.

In 1935 he purchased a "worn out" farm on the Wisconsin river. He and his family lived his philosophy, planting thousands of pine trees, wildflowers and other plants while living in the "shack", a former chicken coop. From this refuge he wrote much of A Sand County Almanac. When we planned our trip to Wisconsin, we kept looking for Sand County on the map, and only when we arrived did we realize that Sand County was fictitious, referring to the sand in which farmers try to raise their crops. Leopold died in 1948 of a heart attack while fighting a fire, before his work was actually published. As we walked from the shack to the river, I felt that Leopold would have been pleased with the results of his labors, so many years ago. The river flows serenely and cleanly.

The prairie grasses and wildflowers flourish.

Small Leopard frogs jumped from river to the shoreline grasses as we walked along the sandy edges.

A Great Blue Heron had danced on the sand.

Now the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center has been constructed to foster his Land Ethic. True to his spirit, it is constructed to be completely in harmony with the environment, and won the Platinum LEED ® Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2007. Part of that certification requires that materials be obtained within 500 miles of the building. They did even better, using many of the pines Leopold himself planted, thinning the forest while making more space for other trees to grow. The solar panels on the roof generate all the electricity used by the Foundation, and selling any excess back to the local power company. Their solar water heater on the roof heats water to 200 degrees. When the weather is nice, as it has been all this week, they actually open the windows, and the system shuts down automatically. No need to heat or cool the outside! We met a young architect while walking around, who came to admire this structure, and we told him that Bernheim Forest's visitor center had also won the Leeds award as well.

Since the Leopold Center is on a road officially designated as "rustic" by the state of Wisconsin, we drove through miles of farm country early in the morning to reach it. Several family groups of Sandhill Cranes rewarded us for taking the road less traveled.

Unlike the birds I've seen in spring, however, these Cranes were all perfectly silent. Maybe they have said everything that matters for now.

De Crane, De Crane!

Imagine three different groups of birders, braving the severe weather warnings, shivering in the wind (since everyone expected warmer conditions), tracking each other from one lake to another at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge. Suddenly, all binoculars point straight up as the smallest birder shouts, "De Cranes, De Cranes!" None of the Cranes actually land, but they squawk softly for several minutes, to the great enjoyment of the birders. I've been waiting months for an opportunity to use this line in a blog!

As in the old Fantasy Island television show, a cast of feathered characters are in the program today. Red Winged Blackbirds puff their feathers and sing Con-Ko-Ree at the top of their lungs, from every other reed along the marshes. Look at me, baby! I'm beautiful and I sing better than any other bird you will find today. Don't get in my way, dude! Con-ko-ree!

Today, all the lakes have melted, and the Canada Geese swim serenely, pairing off with a good looking partner. The White-fronted Geese are gone, as are the Mute Swans from last Tuesday. A mature Bald Eagle surveys the first lake on our route. A variety of ducks swim in pairs or small rafts on each lake, including Ruddy Duck, Wood Duck, Gadwall, Pintails, Bufflehead, Northern Shoveler, and others.

We especially enjoy some of the less common birds, including several lifers for Dick and me. A Turkey waits for us at the Visitor Center before lunch. Purple Finches (LIFER) stop for lunch at the Center too, jostling with White Throated and White Crowned Sparrows at the feeders. I finally get a chance to closely examine some Tree Sparrows, a Fox Sparrow, and Song Sparrows in full breeding plumage. I thought it was another kind of sparrow altogether! They don't look that bright and colorful later in the summer. A Rusty Blackbird (LIFER) joined the Red Headed Woodpecker. One Common Loon dived out of sight whenever we turned the scopes to it. Overall, we counted 63 species today, pretty good considering the unpleasant weather.

Happy Daylight Savings Time to all of you!