With deer-hunting season in progress we think back twenty or
more years to when we could always expect to hear from our
friends, Albert and Mae Schultz, about their sighting of sandhill
cranes at this time in the open field east of their home near
Baileys Harbor. Indeed, more than one deer hunter has been
fooled into seeing several small deer feeding in a distant field,
which with closer inspection turned out to be sandhill cranes.
A phone call last week Friday, November 17, from our friends
Bob and Helen Mueller reported 163 sandhill cranes in the
corn-stubble field north of their home in the same general area
where the Schultz’s used to see theirs. Included in the widely
strung-out flock were a few dozen wild turkeys along with some
giant Canada geese, all feasting on the good supply of kernels of
corn on the ground, the expected and welcome "fall-out"
from mechanical harvesting.
That same day our friend, Tom Erdman, reported over 600
sandhills moving south with a strong tail wind at Little Suamico,
north of Green Bay. And that biting north wind was my initiation
to winter as I trudged through the cornfield at the Muellers in
my attempt to get as close (about 200 yards) as I could to the
wary birds for some photographs.
Many sandhill cranes were still moving through the state the
following Monday, November 20, as reported by Karen Etter Hale
near Lake Mills and from Mark and Sue Martin, managers of the
famous Goose Pond Preserve north of Madison.
These are what the experts label as greater sandhill cranes,
the birds included in those that have nested in Indiana,
Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and southern Canada. Most, if not
all, are now heading south to the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and
Wildlife Area in northern Indiana where they will feed and rest
for a few weeks before continuing their southerly migration to
their wintering grounds in southern Georgia and Florida.
These are large birds with long legs, necks and sharply
pointed bills. They stand up to three and a half feet tall,
weigh from 10 to 12 pounds and have wing spans up to seven feet.
Adult plumage is primarily blue-gray with a bare red skin patch
on the forehead. Juveniles, referred to by bird banders as
"hatch-year (HY)" birds, lack the red forehead and
their body is irregularly mottled with brownish-red. Their full
adult breeding plumage will be reached in about two and a half
years.
All cranes fly with their heads and necks stretched outward.
This feature immediately distinguishes them from, for example,
great blue herons that fly with their neck folded between their
shoulders in a more-or-less "S" shape.
Even though I have been fortunate to observe many thousands of
sandhill cranes, both in northern Indiana and along the Platte
River in southern Nebraska, one of my all-time most thrilling
experiences with them occurred on a late October day when I
worked at the Ridges Sanctuary at Baileys Harbor. A group of
hikers and I were sitting at the observation platform on a chilly
blue-sky day with the American tamarack trees decked out in their
golden finery.
Fortunately it was a very quiet day with practically no wind.
Suddenly we began hearing the far-off but unmistakable staccato,
gargling-like calls of sandhills. Search as we did we could not
locate them until finally we looked straight above from where we
sat and there they were, so high that they appeared as mere dots
against the blue sky.
It was in late November of 1997 that Charlotte and I witnessed
the large concentration of greater sandhill cranes at the
Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area not too far from Munster,
Indiana. What a thrill it was in late afternoon to watch from a
large, raised, platform-blind, easily accessible and open to the
public as flock after flock of these bugling birds settled in for
the night. It was estimated that there were over 12,000 of the
stately and wary birds in the large field to our front, a
never-to-be-forgotten thrill.
You can receive educational materials and a map of the area by
writing to the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, R R 1, Box
216, Medaryville, Indiana 47957.
In reflecting upon the experiences I’ve had with sandhill
cranes, I think it is their alertness, courage, and strength
combined with their stately and elegant posture that impresses
me so deeply. Then too a sandhill crane’s voice has such
remarkable resonance whose carrying power is undoubtedly
increased by its distinct tremolo effect. This is truly a call
of the wild and it pleases me to no end to think that this part
of the state still has enough wild remaining areas that are
suitable for the nesting of these great birds.
Do all in your power to help preserve whatever habitats these
remarkable birds need for nesting and raising their families.
Put Thoreau’s advice into action: "In Wildness is the
preservation of the World."
Greater sandhill cranes feasting on corn,
getting ready for their flight to the Jasper-Pulaski State Wildlife Area
in Northern Indiana
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 12/01/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
