Sandhill Cranes, Wonder-Birds of Long Distance Navigation

21-22 March 2012; Along the Platte River in NE --

One of the wonders of nature that Grumpy has had the privilege of witnessing (see also http://grumpyzz.blogspot.com/2011/03/sandhill-cranes-2011.html and also in 2009) is the spectacle of the Sandhill Cranes during their month-long stop, in and around a short stretch of the Platte River. They stop here on their migration route from the Gulf coast (from Louisiana to Texas and Northeast Mexico) to their nesting areas as far away as Siberia.

Grumpy remembers as a small (7-year old?) boy, seeing a "Consultation" of Sandhill Cranes resting in a grain field next to our home on the Homestead. The Cranes seemed restive, but remained on the ground as this little boy walked past them on the way to country school [1 mile each way, uphill, in snow up to my armpits]. Even back then, I remember my Dad being concerned about the preservation of these magnificent birds.

I didn't get any photographs of these birds up close enough, in enough daylight, to show the colors and features in the photograph I obtained online (see online photo at right; two of my 2009 or 2011 photos are featured there!). The purpose of my visit this year (as in 2009 and 2011) was to watch them during their coming in to roost at night on/in the Platte River, and then in the early morning, to watch them take off for their day of feeding in the previously-harvested nearby corn and grain fields. Both in the evening and in the morning, the lighting conditions required me to set my camera on its maximum ISO sensitivity of 3200.
As the above photo (taken at 8 p.m. NE time), demonstrates, even that sensitivity required such a slow "shutter" speed as to result in blurred images of the motion of the birds still flying in. Notice the birds "roosting" in the water about 150 yards distant from our viewing blind.

The next morning, we arrived at the blind at about 6 a.m.; my first photo (of the Eastern sky, left) was taken at 0650 with an ISO of 3200! It was too dark, even of this dawn-facing view, until that time.

Much later (8 a.m.), after patiently waiting for a mass (~500,000 bird) take-off that didn't occur, I was able to take this shot (right), showing how close our viewing blind was to these birds (mostly juveniles), who were still standing in the river waiting for who-knows-what. Earlier, this area in front of our blind was almost solid birds with only a 10-15 foot gap of water between the closest birds and the shore.

A movie camera would have captured frequent dancing (the Sandhill Crane mating ritual), although the juvenile crane does not really know what it is all about; they must be about 4-5 years old before they can successfully raise a chick. Pairs mate for life (just as Canadian Geese do). Last year's chicks stay with their parents during this Northward migration; these juveniles are apparently older, but not yet ready to commit to their life-long affair with a chosen mate.

Aunt Hazel and I were disappointed that the Cranes did not do their mass-takeoff thing, but we were both glad to have been able to witness them again and to help, through our contributions, to ensure the preservation of this critical area for their migration back to where they nest and raise their young.