Week of 01.06.25
It's a windy, cloudless, November day in the Great Lakes region. Overhead, a flash of silver, followed by shrill honks.
The sandhill cranes have arrived.
Identifiable by their massive size (averaging 3.5 feet tall) and bold red heads, adult sandhill cranes are hard to miss. Cranes fly in a classic "v" formation, and announce their arrival with a variety of noises. From the ground looking up, a group of in-flight sandhill cranes often looks bright silver as sunlight catches on their feathers. These birds have long, thin legs, which are fractional in size to their bodies.
Not all types of sandhill crane migrate, but most do. The migratory groups arrive in massive numbers along multiple flyways spanning North America. Click here to explore an interactive map of sandhill crane migration patterns provided by the Audubon Society.
When seen on land, sandhill cranes are almost always in groups. They walk along wetlands, marshes, and prairies in search of food. Their diet consists of seeds, berries, small invertebrates, and aquatic plants.
Sandhill cranes mate for life, picking their partner in a display of courtship comparable to an interpretive dance. They leap, flap their wings, and spin around to attract the attention of other cranes.
Thousands of sandhill cranes flock to Indiana's Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area each year. On November 28, 2023, the park published a report stating that over 32,000 cranes took refuge at park property in less than 24 hours. Habitat loss is a major danger for this species, and conservation areas provide safe stops along migration, places to roost, and foraging grounds.
In addition to naturalists, sandhill cranes famously capture the hearts of writers, artists, and poets worldwide. Most notably, Aldo Leopold writes about them in his book The Sand County Almanac, first published in 1949. (Thanks Grandpa for my copy)
Leopold writes with a love of cranes bordering on reverence, saying:
High horns, low horns, silence, and finally a pandemonium of trumpets, rattles, croaks , and cries that almost shakes the bog with its nearness, but without yet disclosing whence it comes. At last a glint of sun reveals the approach of a great echelon of birds. On motionless wing they emerge from the lifting mists, sweep a final arc of sky, and settle in clangorous descending spirals to their feeding grounds. A new day has begun on the crane marsh. (Sand County Almanac, Marshland Elegy)
Anyone who has witnessed a sandhill crane migration will tell you it is amazing. The noise of approaching cranes, so loud it is audible indoors. The anticipation of their arrival, searching the skies for any hint of their direction. I remember rushing to put shoes on, failing to do so in time, and running out the door barefoot to wave them on their magnificent path to safety.
Have a great week!
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Art by Anne Longman