Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes Bosque del Apache & Bernardo Waterfowl Area

The Sandhill Crane is a beautiful large bird that can be both graceful and awkward as it moves through its environment, either a step at a time or in flight. As the web site All About Birds says, “These tall, gray-bodied, crimson-capped birds breed in open wetlands, fields, and prairies across North America. They group together in great numbers, filling the air with distinctive rolling cries. Mates display to each other with exuberant dances that retain a gangly grace.”

Cranes migrate every year along with other many other waterfowl. Sandhill Cranes can be found along the Pacific Flyway in various wildlife refuges in the Central Valley, but two of the best places for Sandhill Crane photography are Bosque del Apache and the Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Complex of which the Bernardo Waterfowl Area is part of, both are wildlife refuges near Socorro, New Mexico. I’ve had the good fortune to photograph at these two sites three times now, the most recent being in early December of 2021. All of these photographs are from that trip.

Morning and evening there are thousands of cranes flying overhead as they lift off from the ponds in the early morning to feed in the nearby cornfields and then return to the ponds in the late afternoon to feed there and stay for the night, huddled together away from the shore and predators.

A wildlife refuge cornfield that displays the beautiful New Mexico evening light. This scene is from the Bernardo Waterfowl Area. Once the corn is cut or pushed down by equipment that refuge staff use, the cranes spend all day eating in the field.

Bosque del Apache

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, located in San Antonio, Socorro County, New Mexico, is one of over 500 units within the National Wildlife Refuge System. It is part of the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), administered by the Department of the Interior. Situated between the Chupadera Mountains to the west and the San Pascual Mountains to the east, the 57,331 acre Bosque del Apache was established in 1939 to provide a critical stopover site for migrating waterfowl. The refuge is well known for the tens of thousands of cranes, geese, and ducks that winter there each year. (From the Bosque del Apache website.)

Bosque del Apache, "The Take Off"

A juvenile crane feeding in a pond at Bosque.

A juvenile crane can be identified by the brown crown on its head, whereas an adult displays a red crown. Juveniles typically stay with the family unit through the winter.

Adult crane walking through the water as it feeds in the pond at Bosque.

The yellow cornfields create a beautiful backdrop for a crane taking off in the morning light at Bosque.

Cranes taking off at Bosque.

Coming in for a landing.

The greater Sandhill Crane can have a wing span of five feet to almost seven feet, with the males exhibiting a larger wing span.

This adult crane is slowing down for its landing approach.

Adult crane taking off in the early morning at Bosque.

Cranes, being social creatures, often travel in pairs and always in groups.

Cranes are dancing birds, they dance to meet and greet, to impress their mate and for fun and joy!

Cranes are at their most majestic and graceful as they fly through the sky.

The trees in the background provide a soft brown in the distance that does not compete with the main subject, a streamlined crane flying through the sky.

Starting the glide to a landing at the pond.

Sometimes, though, they simply look like a rocket, wing flaps cutting through the air and jetting toward their destination.

"Mated pairs of cranes... engage in unison calling, which is a complex and extended series of coordinated calls. While calling, cranes stand in an upright posture, usually with their heads thrown back and beaks skyward during the display. In Sandhill Cranes the female initiates the display and utters two, higher-pitched calls for each male call. While calling, the female raises her beak about 45 degrees above the horizontal while the male raises his bill to a vertical position. All cranes engage in dancing, which includes various behaviors such as bowing, jumping, running, stick or grass tossing, as well as wing flapping. Though it is commonly associated with courtship, dancing can occur at any age and season. Dancing is generally believed to be a normal part of motor development for cranes and thwarts aggression, relieves tension, and strengthens the pair bond." (International Crane Foundation)

A dance for pure joy!

Then it's sunset and the Sandhill Cranes and other waterfowl head to a pond for the night, only to begin the whole process all over again the next day.

Getting ready to bed down in the pond for the night, Bernardo Waterfowl Area, as they do each and every night and so ends the day.

But, each morning, starting at dawn, they again take off and head out for breakfast, giving all of us photographers ample opportunity to get our shots!

THE END AND THANKS FOR WATCHING!

Appreciate

Credits: