Birds and Nature

  I took the above photo of a large flock of Sandhill Cranes as they flew over my house a week ago. I took the other two photos of Sandhill Cranes at Bosque del Apache NWR over the week-end.  These are early arrivals at Bosque with numbers just in the hundreds while tens of thousands will arrive next month. SeEtta

I first found these cranes on March 10 (first day birding for several days as I had been out of town) and I watched them take off yesterday and gaining a lot of altitude to apparently provide the winds at higher altitude to continue their migration. As the cranes flew in circles, they beat their wings often then started to glide as they got higher. SeEtta

These short video clips show the family of 4 Sandhill Cranes in the Canon City, CO area that made a stop-over from their migration north to feed. They would come into this fallow agricultural field where manure had been spread the week before. In the video clip the cranes can be seen turning the large pieces of manure and tossing clumps aside to get at insects and/or grain. Clearly shown is one of the cranes keeping a watch while the others eat. (note-the sound sucks because I am parked on the side of a busy road with a lot of traffic plus big wind gusts blowing a metal sign but I did turn the sound lower).  SeEtta

I spotted 4 Sandhill Cranes foraging in an agricultural field on the east side of Canon City today. Migrating Sandhill Cranes fly over this area and can be heard during both spring and fall migrations with their distinctive calls. Small family groups usually stop-over to feed though generally I have only seen them in less public (and thus less disturbed by people) fields in the area. These were feeding alongside a number of Canada Geese and 2 Snow Geese (that are vagrant to this area) in a field where manure was spread last week likely providing lots of insects plus some grain for a good crane feed. Here is a very brief video clip of one of the cranes feeding. SeEtta

At times I could almost head Irene Cara belting out Flashdance as she leaped into the air with Sandhill Cranes. These birds were just as skilled as dancers as she. SeEtta

These Sandhill Cranes were really 'kicking up their heals'. It is interesting the moves they make. Note the bird in the bottom pic that is bowed down, a part of the breeding behavior. SeEtta

The Sandhill Cranes have been returning most every day to these agricultural fields only a few miles from where I live. Their exuberance is a joy to experience. The high jumper in the bottom pic must be young to get that much air. SeEtta

These were some of a flock of about 15 Sandhill Cranes that used a local agricultural field in the Canon City area for a migration stop-over for a few days. In the top pic they are starting to dance. In the other two pics the cranes are dancing away. It is always enjoyable to see Sandhill Cranes during spring migration as they begin their breeding dancing. SeEtta

Sandhill Cranes are migrating south across Colorado and these are a few of those that I saw during my trip yesterday to the La Junta area. These were part of small group I saw at Lake Cheraw. They were all standing when I arrived but as shown 2 have laid down with one tucking it's beak into it's back feathers to rest. Though I have seen thousands of these cranes in several states, I can't remember ever seeing one laying like this on the ground. Lake Cheraw is a good place for them to rest as there is no active recreation (no boating, no fishing, etc) here to disturb them though they are hunted in this flyway I have not seen hunters here. The group in the bottom pic were flying near Lake Henry but changed direction to fly to another nearby lake SeEtta

Sandhill Cranes are migrating north to their breeding grounds including a population found in the interior West. I first heard (as usual) this flock of around 65 Sandhill Cranes near dusk yesterday when I was checking up on a heronry at Holcim Wetlands in eastern Fremont Co.,CO. SeEtta

The very top pic shows a crane beginning a leap up while flapping it's wings. Though often associated with dances of breeding behavior, Birds Of North America online explains that this is a signaling behavior given by birds intending to take off to other family members. Both this video clip (they are pretty distant in the clip) and bottom pic (it is best to double click on the pic to see the extent of the view captured by that wide angle shot) show many of the Sandhill Cranes that were foraging in tilled agricultural (presumably cotton as most I saw were) fields adjacent to H87 north of Big Spring and south of Lamesa in west Texas. These cranes extended for over a mile along the highway, most on the west side but a few hundred on the east side. That was a pretty cool distraction from the otherwise not very stimulating drive between these two towns. SeEtta

I drove down to the La Junta,CO area today and was rewarded both by a gorgeous Indian summer day and some enjoyable birding including flocks of Sandhill Cranes at Lake Holbrook that are stopping over on their migration south. There were a few hundred cranes on the ground and more flocks coming in near dusk in order to spend the night along the shore of this lake when I took these pics. SeEtta

These are just two short video clips I video-scoped (video taken with my point and shoot camera that I handhold up to my spotting scope) in W. Texas on my way home to Colorado from Texas in early January. These cranes were part of a flock of hundreds that I spotted while driving down the highway. The bottom clip is very short showing the cranes flying but is mostly for the audio side as they sound came out very good. SeEtta

Much of Colorado has been in the grip of a significant snowstorm for the past 3 days. I took this pic of part of a flock of 80-90 Sandhill Cranes that were using Brush Hollow Reservoir northeast of Canon City for a vital stop-over. Though we got 4-6 inches of snow in the Canon City,CO area from this storm, it stayed around freezing so some melted and the roads remained mostly wet. Further west and north, where much more snow fell and temps were lower the conditions were pretty nasty. Just double-click on the pic for a closer though not sharp view of the cranes. SeEtta