The Migration of the Sandhill Crane
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