Yesterday I stopped off highway 12 in between some toll bridges to regard a field of strangely long- necked geese. When I got the camera lens out I was able to see that it was about 300 Sandhill Cranes stopping to feed in one of the delta farm lands on their migration. Grus canadensis (they have the same last name as our beavers!) can be 5 feet tall with a wing span of 80 inches. Despite the whizzing car noises, their strange call was audible, and if you haven’t heard it treat yourself and follow the link to the Cornell Bird Site where you can listen to how other-worldly it sounds.
Sandhill cranes might not mate until they are seven years old. They can live 20 years. They woo their partners with elaborate dances, and continue little moments of dancing year round, (which should inspire us all to try it). They mate for life and stick with their feathered partner through the seasons. They breed and rear young in long summers in northern canada, and then return here for winter, migrating a mere 1000 miles or more with their children to teach them the routes. Sandhill Cranes are almost the only species of Crane that aren’t endangered.
It’s a great time of year to see these amazing birds. There’s a Lodi Crane festival nearby, and crane walks all over the delta. Honestly standing at the edge of that populated field was weirdly like standing near a watering hole in the serengeti. Along with the cranes were 100 birds I had no idea we even had in California, and I’ll tell you about those later. For now, imagine the long line of flapping wings as a football field of sandhill cranes decided to take again to the sky.
