Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Taking a side trip to Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, we made a sharp right turn off the highway onto a side road and were treated to one of nature’s dramas.  Fortunately I had my camera ready! A group of Sand Hill Cranes were in a farmer’s wet field and I started taking pictures of them.  I was so excited that they were close enough to get some details.   All of a sudden two of the cranes started jumping in the air spreading their wings and dancing.  The mating dance can take place all year and is quite the athletic event!  Sand Hill Cranes, their take offs and landings, their calls and dances and their sheer group numbers make them unforgettable and one of my favorite birds.  Read more about them at http://lindabrittdesign.blogspot.com/2011/12/migration-of-sand-hill-crane.html http://dnr.wi.gov/eek/critter/bird/sandhill.htm http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Birds/Sandhill-Crane.aspx

Before I met Peter, my avid birder, I had never heard of the Sandhill Crane.   That changed as I began to learn about birds and become aware of my surroundings!    Sandhill Cranes fly south for the winter forming flocks of over 10,000 birds.   One terrific place to observe them is at Bosque del Apache in New Mexico.   There is an annual Sand Hill Crane Festival every November.   We took a birding trip and got up very early in the cold morning to get to the area where the cranes would take off and land.   Thousands of these birds migrate to this area each year to create quite a noisy spectacle.   The birds are skilled at soaring with their 5 -7 ft wingspan and they can ride the thermals for hours at a time.   These beautiful light grey birds with red foreheads land by the water and in fields making loud trumpeting calls.   They eat plants, grains, mice, snakes, insects, and worms.   They often dig in the farmer’s fields for tubers…..probably not politically correct behavior! All cranes