Sandhill Crane [Bev Schneider Photo]
At this time of year the Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) are moving through our province on their way to northern breeding grounds. These areas include northern Ontario, areas of Quebec around James Bay, the prairie provinces, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and the Arctic Islands. Sandhill Cranes are also found in the northeastern part of Siberia.
It is possible to see a ‘dance’ of Sandhill Cranes over New Brunswick at this time of year. ‘Dance’ is one of the many terms used for a group of cranes. Please search this blog for more information on the Sandhill Crane.
Nine Sandhill Cranes have been resting and feeding on Sugar Island, upriver from Fredericton in the St. John River for the past few days (seen on May 26). I haven’t heard of quite this number seen in New Brunswick before. Does this represent a ‘dance’?
The Sandhill Crane is mainly a western species but is also found in eastern North America. Sandhill Cranes like to frequent the edges of bodies of water. The central Platte River valley in Nebraska is their most important stopover during migration. About 450,000 cranes migrate through there annually. It is from the habitat in that area that the Sandhill Crane gets its common name.
Although the general population numbers of this species are doing well, in the past some of the southern races were drastically reduced due to hunting and habitat loss. Most of these have recovered to acceptable but low levels. The eastern race must be doing well resulting in more sightings here in New Brunswick in recent years.
Migratory flocks of Sandhill Cranes take different routes depending on where they breed. In the east, the birds fly from Florida northward east of the Mississippi River and west of the coastal states to the Maritime provinces and northward to their breeding areas.
Sandhill Cranes in flight are distinctive. Their wings are held out straight, ‘plank like’, at 90ยบ to their bodies. Their necks are held straight out in front and their legs straight out behind. Their wingbeat is steady, slow and regular. When flying in groups but short distances they form a line. When flying great distances as in migration they fly in a ‘V’ formation. Occasionally they will fly in formation with geese.
How do you tell a flying Great Blue Heron from a flying Sandhill Crane? Herons fly with their head and neck folded back and their wings are bowed downward. Their legs are held straight out behind.
The wonderful group of Sandhill Cranes we saw on Sugar Island were both resting and feeding. They were skillful at avoiding the farm machinery that was busily working the fields. We had to make 4 tries to eventually see them on that huge island. They were safely placed in the middle of a huge field, in a hollow a long distance away from any possible way to get close to them. We viewed them from about 600-800 metres. That made photographing them very difficult. See the poor photo below.
Even at that distance I enjoyed watching their behaviour. They were doing a lot of wing flapping and jumping up and down. I wondered if they were getting restless to continue their migration or if it was courting behaviour. At that distance unfortunately we could not hear any sound from this normally vocal species.
A lot of research has been done on North American cranes, both a dwindling subspecies of the Sandhill Crane and the Whooping Crane. We are all familiar with the intense successful research work done on restoring the Whooping Crane from near extinction. Of interest in this post is that the Sandhill Crane was part of this attempt to restore the Whooping Crane. Sandhill Cranes were used to raise Whooping Cranes by putting Whooping Crane eggs in their nests. Even though the Whooping Crane eggs hatched and the young were raised by the Sandhill Cranes, the endeavour failed because the Whooping Crane chicks imprinted on the Sandhill Cranes and would not later identify with Whooping Cranes. They attempted to pair with Sandhill Cranes and were unsuccessful.
I was delighted to view this large group of Sandhill Cranes in their stopover near Fredericton. I had many conversations with the farmers and told them about the life history of this important species. They are as interested in protecting these birds as we are!
See the link below for a home video of dancing Sandhill Cranes taken in Florida where there is a resident breeding population.
