The Sandhill Cranes Are Gathering

On Sunday we went for a drive east of Stayner to see if we could find the Sandhill Cranes gathering.  We've seen them there before.  In this part of Ontario the cranes separate into breeding pairs over the summer, but congregate in habitual areas before migrating southwest to the southern U.S.  It's quite the sight to see the large birds gathered in flocks of 500 or more as they feed on fallen grains before migrating.

We got there and could only see 3 cranes, unfortunately directly in the sunlight from us.  They're a huge bird, four feet tall and with a wingspan over six feet.  A bit like a Great Blue Heron but bulkier.

In any case these three didn't like being disturbed, and moved on.

We drove some distance south and west a bit. passing large harvested corn fields.  Eventually we came upon this flock, spread out in a long line on the farthest edge of this field.  The cranes seem to have a knack for staying as far away from vehicles as possible.

In the next field we were a little closer, and the cranes were in a field of winter wheat which made them stand out more clearly.  There was more to come, but you'll have to wait for the next post for that.  So far we had counted about 100.

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A Note on Photography

I've included the photo below which is largely uncropped, to give you an idea of how far away most of these birds were.  The phone camera can certainly zoom in a lot, but at these distances it becomes to hard to even hold the phone steady enough to get a clear picture.  And once you start cropping that picture it get blurry almost immediately.  It's enough to send me back to my big Nikon.

But it records the experience for us, which is what matters.

Can you see the 13 cranes in this shot?