Sandhill Cranes

[Spade]

For the past several weeks, Prairie residents have welcomed the spring migration of sandhill cranes on their way to northern wetlands in Canada, Alaska, and western Siberia. The large flocks wheel searching for thermals, then continue north. Their stuccato call truly marks the arrival of spring.
Sandhill Crane, Life History, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

 

[petros]

They aren't very tasty.

 

[Spade]

 

[BruSan]

Gotta say I love those birds.


While wintering in Florida and spending time on golf courses; those guys will amble slowly across a green between you and the hole while you're attempting to set up a 20' putt. Worse still is when they approach silently behind you on a tee box and wait 'til you're in your backswing to give that raucus call of theirs that's a cross between a guttural warble and a sheep's bleat.


Very stately birds to watch but boy can they ruin a green if they detect mole-crickets under the surface.


I tossed one a Thompson grape once and that guy marched across two fairways to meet up with me going the other way after playing the next three holes.

 

[petros]

To me they mean the geese are coming in a few days down the same geomagnetic route when the moon is waxing from half to full.

 

[Spade]

To me they mean the geese are coming in a few days down the same geomagnetic route when the moon is waxing from half to full.

 

[petros]

Interesting. Could the goose keep with the cranes?

 

[Ludlow]

I liked the geese that flew over northern Arkansas every fall.

 

[Spade]

Sandhill Cranes, Sandhill Crane Pictures, Sandhill Crane Facts - National Geographic