October 20, 2017

Sandhill Cranes in the Back Fields

Over the summer, we kept hearing a bird call that I had never heard before.
It was loud, especially in the evening.
Then we walked down to very end of the gravel road close by.
Here's what we saw in the field:

This picture is terrible, I know.
My camera does not do well with distances and this was as close as I could get, due to electric fences.

Very large birds, long skinny necks, long skinny legs.
I've been looking them up.
At first I thought they were herons.

Then I found this awesome website, from the Cornell Lab of Orinthology:

They have their calls recorded!
Listening to the herons vs. the cranes, it was immediately obvious that we had the cranes.
The heron's call is more like a croak--not what we had been hearing all summer.
The crane's call is described as a bugle call.
That's more like it!
Check it out!

They have migrated south now, but when they return, now I'll know what they are.


No comments:

Post a Comment