Family group of Greater Sandhill Cranes relax in a shallow pond next to Woodbridge Road.
Spent last Saturday enjoying the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival with a good friend of mine. The festival featured tours to various Sandhill Crane and other birding locations; free talks on cranes, raptors, bats and turtles; children’s activities; interactive and live wildlife exhibits; workshops on photography, Haiku, decoy carving and printmaking; an art show; and a vendor hall with all kinds of bird watching related items and conservation groups.
Information presented included maps to various locations where cranes could be found. After listening to the crane presentations, we headed out to Woodbridge Road, a prime crane viewing spot.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
So let us know what you are seeing in your own part of the world and share your observations. Seen any interesting plants, bugs or critters? Are there birds in your yard or at your feeders? Seen any beautiful landscapes, cool rocks or geological features? Taken a trip and viewed the wildlife? We love to see what you see, so please share photos. We like all photos. You can post a comment but we always love a diary — remember what is common in your area maybe very rare and exotic to the rest of us.
Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.
Here’s some info I learned about the cranes. About 30,000 Sandhill Cranes migrate into Central California on the Pacific Flyway a much smaller population than the estimated 500,000 cranes that migrate through the Midwest. We have both Greater and Lesser Sandhill Cranes. The Greaters are about a foot taller and their beak is longer in proportion to their head than the Lessers.
The two species have different migratory and feeding patterns. The Lesser Cranes fly several thousand miles from their breeding grounds near the Arctic Circle. The Greater Cranes have a much shorter journey from their summer grounds in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Canada. Both subspecies arrive in late October/early November and leave in February.
While here, they forage in open dry and flooded fields; the Lessers range up to 5 miles from their roosting areas and the Greaters range up to 3 miles. The foraging range is extremely important in that farmers have converted a number of fields into vineyards or orchards. Cranes avoid these crops because the rows are too narrow for them to take flight and leaves them vulnerable to predators. As more open fields are converted, the cranes lose vital foraging grounds.
Two Sandhills flying in as the sun sets.
Note the differences between the Sandhill Crane on the left and the Great Egret on the right.
Flying streams of Sandhills could be seen all afternoon
More fun facts: Sandhills are a silver gray. The reddish brown coloring on some cranes comes from iron-rich dirt the Sandhills use to rid their feathers of parasites. The cranes cannot perch on branches in that they do not have a rear toe that will allow them to balance.
Roosting in open shallow ponds allows them to see and hear any predator coming their way.
The shallow water provides protection for sleeping birds.
In addition, we saw a number of other birds in the fields and ponds along Woodbridge Road.
Aleutian Cackling Geese rest on a shallow pond.
A Snowy Egret and Great Egret forage in a flooded field.
A Great Blue Heron voices his disapproval at being disturbed.
A Double-Crested Cormorant on a wire above an irrigation canal.
Snowy Egret having a bad hair day.
A pair of Greater Yellowlegs.
A sandpiper probing for food.
A Red-Tailed Hawk going for the kill with his talons extended.
We saw at least a dozen Red-Tailed and Red-Shouldered Hawks flying around or sitting on fences, utility poles/wires and trees along the various roads, highways and freeways we drove on.
We also saw Say’s Phoebes, Mourning Doves, Killdeer, Red-Winged and Brewer’s Blackbirds, White-Fronted Geese and Northern Pintail and Shovelor Ducks.
The festival was well worth the visit and best of all, it was free. In addition to learning about cranes, I learned about the threat posed by climate change. Climate change is causing sea water rise which intrudes into the endangered Sacramento delta marshlands spoiling the vital fresh water areas. It’s changing the weather patterns which affects the migratory patterns. Their breeding is endangered by the melting of the permafrost tundras where they nest.
Receiving a warm welcome from the festival mascot.
On the bright side, there are a number of organizations working to save our environment and our wildlife including The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, International Crane Foundation, Save Our Sandhill Cranes, local and national Audubon groups, Sierra Club, conservation groups supporting our local refuges and wetlands, and state and local agencies.
In other news, have you been able to see the Northern Lights that have been visible over most of the US? Alas, cloudy skies prevented me from seeing this unique aerial phenomena the last 2 nights. NorCal will be having changeable weather for the next few days with some rain, winds and cloudiness. The high temperatures will be in the 60s and low 70s.
What’s up in your neck of the woods?
