It's Cranemania around here!

[Gary Laudermilch]

In this upside-down world good news is indeed welcome. Looks like he will be strong enough to make the fall flight.

[charlie cleveland]

good for the young bird and his faithful parents....charlie

[Wild Skies]

THE CRANES ARE BACK!

THE CRANES ARE BACK!

Our neighborhood nesting pair of Sandhill Cranes arrived today for the 13th consecutive year of bringing their brand of excitement to the neighborhood. This pair of said-to-mate-for-life Sandhill Cranes were exactly two weeks late in arriving this year, but we can't blame them, our backyard and their cattail marsh nesting grounds are still frozen up solid . . . but it shouldn't be long. If their history holds true, we'll see the usual one or two babies sometime around mid-May.

Here are three pics from today, just after their return and our getting reacquainted rendezvous:

[Dean Romig]

Wow, that’s great! And deer on the other side of the fence.





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[OLD GEEZER]

When you feed them by hand are they gentle with those long beaks. Thomas

[Wild Skies]

Originally Posted by Thomas L. Benson Sr.

When you feed them by hand are they gentle with those long beaks. Thomas

Yes, the adults are gentle and quite careful. They zero in on each kernel of corn with precision, the young colts aren't quite as accurate, however; they are gentle as well.

If we have friends over when the cranes saunter in looking for a snack and they would like to see them being fed, I will usually feed them by hand myself. If the friends are first timers at hand feeding and would like to give it a try, they will usually do so with some apprehension, but that apprehension goes away after the first couple of kernels are snatched up by the cranes.

[charlie cleveland]

just wow.....charlie

[Wild Skies]

You've heard the phrase .... "What a difference a day makes!" …. Well, our feathered friends must be singing the same tune today. Yesterday the mallards were doing what they do in the rain and newly found melted ice. Then, today the Sandhills are sloshing through the slush after the rain changed over to a few inches of heavy wet snow overnite. (You can actually see their tracks left in the slush.)

It must be April!

[Dakota Jeff]

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.

[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.