Sandhill Cranes

[Ohiosam]

Last evening I was working in the yard and I saw 3 very large, brown birds locked up heading to the pumpkin patch that I just planted. When they landed (~400 yards) could clearly see how tall they were. I grabbed my binoculars and could make out the red on the head. The ODNR says there were only 58 breeding pairs of Sandhill Cranes in Ohio last year. Crappy pic, held the phone up the binos to take it.

 

[bowhunter1023]

We need to bump those rookie numbers up so we can have a season!

 

[Jackalope]

Man that's cool! Awesome that you got to see them.

The Mississippi sandhill crane refuge is a few miles north of my house. Thy're a critically endangered nonmigratory subspecies. There are only about 120 left in the wild and around 30 breeding pairs, all on or around that 7k acre refuge. In the winter I had two that would fly real low right over the house every morning heading for the coastal marsh. Noisy suckers but a sight to see.

 

[jagermeister]

They are really cool birds. We’ve been seeing more and more of them up this way every year. They are even successfully nesting up here, which is really neat to see.

 

[HE>I]

So that answers something. I saw two of these last week in a sprouting bean field while I was biking. I didn't know wtf they were, even turned around for a better look. Learned something today.

 

[Big_Holla]

We see them all the time up here anymore. All fall and now spring/summer in the newly planted fields. There are 2 pairs in two nearby bean fields every day lately, figure they oughta have chicks soon if not already.

 

[mike hunt]

I'd like to shoot one

 

[GoetsTalon]

Very cool! You usually hear them before you see them. Like Jim said they are common up this way the last couple years. Ottawa refuge is a great spot to watch Sandhills.