Monday, October 24, 2011

Saturday's Symphony (featuring Sandhill Cranes)



I hear the first Sandhill Cranes as we got out of the car at Kiwanis Youth Conservation Grounds situated on the ridge on the west side of Big Marsh Lake.  It’s about an hour before sunset and the light is already soft.  The fall colors, brilliant a week ago, are now fading.  Most of the orange and yellow leaves are gone, we're left with those that rusty brown, but in the soft light they’re lovely.  We walk along the bank, scouting out photo angles while swatting mosquitoes.  It may be October and it’s getting cooler, but there are still a few hardy ones out for blood.   In an old tree in the distance, in the middle of the marshy lake, a pair of bald eagles is perched.  I wish I’d brought a longer lens and a tripod!  A few Sandhills Cranes come overhead, heading for a spot out in the middle of the marsh.  Flying, they keep their legs stretched out behind them, but when they arrive at their nesting spot, they drop their tail and feet downwards, which causes a quick reduction in altitude.  As they fly and even after they land, they make a guttural sound.  The birds pair up as a couple and together they sing; the female issuing two calls to the male’s one.   There are things that tend to remain the same across the animal kingdom.
Click to enlarge:  Bald Eagles in the bottom right
A few more birds fly in, I hear the horn on a train making its way up from Battle Creek on the old Grand Trunk Western Line, a part of Canadian National’s tracks that run from Ontario to Chicago.  At each of the rural crossings, the locomotive gives off a lonesome cry until it fades in the background as heads toward Lansing.  To the north of us, on a farm, a steam tractor is being displayed and on occasion we hear the steam whistle adding its sound to the symphony.  The Canadian Geese, with their honking, often drown out the cries of the Sandhills early in the concert, but as more Sandhills come in, from all directions, the geese take to skies and head elsewhere.  Six Tundra Swans fly in and land, then swim along the water, moving away from the mass of cranes.  They’re making a stop from their breeding grounds in the Arctic down to the  Atlantic Coast.  As the light fades, more and more birds arrive.  Blackbirds by the hundreds also take to the sky, their chirps barely heard over the Sandhill Cranes.  In pairs and triplets, in groups of a half a dozen to a dozen or more, the Sandhill Cranes continue to arrive.  After the sun drops beyond the horizon, they come even faster and at a greater number.  At times, a hundred or more birds are flying and landing where hundreds, maybe already a few thousand, have already landed.  Their cries fill the air as the evening symphony rises to a crescendo.   
  
As we leave in the dark, the birds are still singing.  The symphony season will run another week or so, when the birds will continue their migration south.
Big Marsh Lake just before sunset

Sandhill Cranes arriving from area corn fields
More Cranes:  These birds may look small but each one has a wingspan of 5 feet or so



16 comments:

  1. nice...bet that made for a pretty awesome day...an amazing sight seeing them all coming in and natural concert as well...smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have a wildlife refuge along the Missouri river that gets a lot of sandhill cranes and geese in transit. Once when I was there and there were probably hundreds of thousands of geese covering the marshy areas, I say a fox or coyote running through the flock. They would rise up in a bubble around him and then sit back down. He did this for over ten minutes. It was almost like watching a cat run under a bed cover. I've always wished I had a video function on my camera back then to record that moment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful pics. Funny, I get to see a lot of birds in Miami but not hear them so much...unless I'm at my parents' house listening to their African Grey speak Spanish. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nicely described. I miss the midwest this time of year...You caught me with the mention of Sandhills cranes; I have a photo of them on the wall in my office from a visit to a visitors center on the Platte in Nebraska.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A day like what you described is what makes autumn so welcome....we didn't get too much of the vibrant reds and oranges...but if went out in search, we stumbled across some, but not like usual! The field you shot looks very much like one not far from where I live...isn't it funny how one lovely field in Michigan has a sister just like it in Minnesota!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was told during a trip to the Chiricahuas that the Sandhills winter in the Willcox, AZ sewage treatment lagoon.

    For obvious reasons, I eschewed the opportunity to visit.

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A lovely symphony indeed! Love the pics. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well of course I couldn't comment on your riding the rails...but I'll do it here. Did you take lots of pictures of all those cannons from across the ages? You had such a trip to treasure forever, and you looked just great in that last night on the town photo...did it look that golden in real life sitting there? It's quite a nice view of the place! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sounds like a wonderful outing! And I really like the photo of the marsh lake area. Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mr. John Rambo, your misogynistic comments had nothing to do with my post, were offensive and are now going to be deleted

    ReplyDelete
  13. My bad, somehow I hit the wrong delete and removed "Roaring40's" comment which I didn't want to remove as it wasn't offensive as was the other comment from an anonymous link who called himself John Rambo... Can you get deleted comments back?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've seen that shade in other blogs. I think it is an automated spam thingy. It might be an idea to lift the barriers on the comments and flag it as spam.
    Mind you, it might be no harm if you clear all cookies and residual dross from all your browsers.
    Did you know that airline booking websites plant a cookie which will flag your return and will up the price on a flight you are looking at. Sneaky devils.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm never sure the difference between a blue heron and a crane. I think I always assume I'm seeing a heron.

    ReplyDelete