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Wesley's Backyard Birds
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| Working in the backyard we regularly hear flocks of something flying over - Geese, Gulls, Ducks, Crows, etc - but this day we heard these Sandhill Cranes coming from the south. I had to run in to get my camera and missed taken a picture of the majority of them. There were a good 50 of them flying over. They congregate in huge numbers during migration and were extremely loud. In the winter the Sandhill Crane migrates much further south (with their young offspring) to west-southwest-south Texas, southern New Mexico, norther Mexico, parts of California, Florida, and few other like areas. In the Spring they migrate back up to southwest-south-southest-east Idaho, southcentral-south Oregon, southern Montana, and isolated parts of Nevada and Utah. And other sporadic spots in the NW area. The largest portion of them (millions) continue on up all through Canada (dipping down as well into Michigan area), Alaska, up into Siberia, and so on. Sandhill Cranes grow to almost 4 foot tall with a 6-1/2 foot wingspan. When approached by an avian predator, Sandhill Cranes fly at the predator, kicking it with their feet. A crane fossil approximately ten million years old was found in Nebraska and is structurally identical to the modern Sandhill Crane, making it the oldest known bird species still surviving. |
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