We were on our way to babysit in Colorado a few weeks ago. Our halfway overnight is usually at Grand Island Nebraska in the Platte river valley. Arriving a little early and having had supper already, we opted for a short jaunt along the river. The result was amazing as hundred of thousands of sandhills cranes were seen everywhere in the fields along the river. They seemed especially partial to picked cornfields. From here, after feeding and resting for a bit they would eventually head north as far as Canada and even Eastern Siberia.
As the sun began to set, we came to a bridge over the Platte. After parking, I walked up on the bridge and noticed flocks of birds, coming from all directions to settle in for the night. What a sight!
There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.--Rachel Carson
An exciting sight! We have some nesting Sandhill Cranes here, but I've never seen the main migration - that would be thrilling. They are larger that you expect when you see them up close. And very loud!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic sight TB. WOW!! You were so lucky to stop there. Love the last two shots too.
ReplyDeleteGood morning TB, you chose a wonderful quote.
ReplyDeleteYou were lucky to be there at the right time to see the sandhill cranes. Wish I could find the time to visit some of our local wetlands where the SH cranes stop. I'm always hopeful I will spot a couple whooping cranes that may be migrating with the flocks.
Marnie
Wow. What an experience. I love the quote. It is so true.
ReplyDeleteOh my, what an experience for you! The photos depict it beautifully.
ReplyDeleteTB,
ReplyDeleteYou lucky duck..how fortunate were you to catch all those cranes!! That must have been quite a sight. Cranes are big birds and to see so many must have been quite impressive. WOW!! Love the quote at the end of your post..so very true!
Excellent! I'm a big fan of cranes!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sight that must have been! I've never seen the Sandhills, but we saw so many flocks of migrating birds when we were on Cumberland. It's still always amazing to me how they just know.
ReplyDeleteYou said it: "What a sight!". Great pics, Troutbirder.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post! I like the passage at the end, and you got some excellent pictures of the cranes. I see a lot of them up here all summer (even with their chicks), but they are very wary and I find it hard to get good pictures.
ReplyDeleteWow--flocks of sandhills. Our mating pairs are back, but it's rare to see more than a few together. I've heard of the huge flocks at stopover points--I think Annie Proulx wrote about a Nebraska place in one of her novels.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful! I love sandhill cranes, even though I don't see them here. Another of my blog friends has a local pair with cranelets (I forget the "real" word for baby sandhills,) in her backyard. So cool!
ReplyDeleteWe have tons of them out here at the new place, To be honest a lot of folks around here really don't care for them, but I really enjoy them around.
ReplyDeleteit's always amazing how they follow their internal "gps" to get back and forth between homes.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos!
ReplyDeleteYour words:
There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds.
I could not agree more, perfect description.
An amazing sight! When I lived in Michigan we sometimes saw Sandhill Cranes, but I never see them in northern New York.
ReplyDeleteKia ora TB,
ReplyDelete"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature..the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter".
Man TB, that quote does me a world of good right at the moment. Progressing nicely I guess, the biggest thing is to be patient and think of those mountains.
Cheers,
Robb
How exciting to see all those sandhill cranes! I loved the beautiful skies you captured too!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool sight! I bet hearing them was really neat too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post - I hope to see this someday. Mr. Shady took our son-in-law a couple of years ago to watch the migration. I opted to stay home with our daughter and grandchildren (!). Enjoy your stay in Colorado!
ReplyDelete