It's Cranemania around here!

[Wild Skies]

Originally Posted by Jeff Sweeter

Do any of the offspring come back to that general area or just the 2 adults that have always been there.This is a neat story and pics.

I am not an ornithologist, nor do I try to play one on the internet. But, from what I’ve read, the entire family will 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 12 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 12 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.

[Wild Skies]

THINGS CHANGE . . .

Just as the world of golf has changed, so has the modus operendi nesting habits of our neighborhood pair of Sandhills. In years past we'd typically see them parading through the neighborhood showing off that year's brood -- their young, always just a day or two old -- some year's with just one, other year's with two in tow. But, not this year. You see, for their entire typical nesting time -- from approximately mid-April through mid-May and up to the present date they've been AWOL. Nobody saw them. We feared the worst. That was, until today, when the two adult birds brought their ~3-4 week old colts out for a stroll.

. . . WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN?

Here they are today!