Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Sandhill Cranes









For a week or two now we have heard the sandhill cranes flying around the neighborhood, but hardly ever get to see them. This morning around 10 am I was outside bringing plants out of the greenhouse to harden them off, when I heard the cranes. I watched them flying towards me, then around behind the house, then they landed in the neighbors field behind his house. After I got the plants all drug out into the sunshine I went into mom's room to see where the cranes went. When I pulled back the curtain - there were the cranes on the ground right outside mom's window. They were digging in the dirt that got churned up last fall when Justin put in the ditch right there. We watched them for a long time, and I got some really good pictures I had to share. I have a video too. its a little slow, but if you are interested you can watch them eating and churning up the dirt. Also in the background are some tweety birds singing. Kind of a cool spring morning thing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, Alicia, thanks for much for sharing this. You know how much I love them. They are so much more colorful in their spring breeding plumage than they are when we see them in the winter in the Central Valley. Thanks again for sharing.
Love, Sandra

Ted & Carole Whisler said...

Which one is the male (the dark one??) and which is the female?? Lovel Grandpa

Anonymous said...

That's amazing. You guys have quite the life out there. You are motivating Ben to want to move to the country & be self sustaining.