The way I see it . . . why pay a lawn servicing company good money to come in and aerate your lawn, when you can get 'er done for nuttin'!
Our family of Sandhill Cranes arrived back a week earlier than their norm -- quite expected as we've had one of the mildest Winters on record in terms of temps and snow. This year our neighborhood nesting pair returned on March 9th with a special surprise as it appears they've brought back their offspring from last year. I had mentioned earlier that from what I’ve read, the entire family will usually stay together over the Winter and return to this very spot in our neighborhood in the Spring; at which point the adult pair will kick out last year's offspring and start a new family. Having said this, from our experience over the course of the past 13 years, the offspring of the year have roughly a 50:50 chance of living long enough to migrate south for the Winter. In addition, over these same 13 years I don’t recall more than the 2-bird breeding pair accompanied by last year’s young with them when they’ve arrived back in the Spring. But, as you can see, things are a bit different this year and I expect the young one will be forced out in the near future. It's hard to tell which one is the young one???
Here's a pic of our lawn aeration team in action. They work cheap!
