Up close and personal with a Sandhill Crane...

What a sweet little Valentine's face! Every

time I see a close-up shot of a Sandhill Crane,

all I can think about is hearts--I wonder why?

...that amber eye is gorgeous.

The heart-shaped patch on a Sandhill Crane's

head is red skin, not red feathers. If he gets

excited, angry, or upset, the color intensifies.

Click here for a short video from the Rowe Sanctuary

about the red crown on a Sandhill Crane.

In addition to the red crown, cranes let others

in the flock know how they are feeling through

body language. Click here for a short video on

body language exhibited in Sandhill Cranes.

I was hoping to see a few Sandhill Cranes

dancing their famous ballet, but the cranes we

saw were working and eating--they had no time

for dancing, but if you click here, you can see

another short video from the Row Sanctuary

site that shows their beautiful dancing.

I wish I could say I took these photos of the Sandhill Cranes in the wild, but they are from the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. I hung out there a couple days this summer while Matty was attending the zoo camp and took a lot of photos. I thought they would be a great addition to the series on the Haehnle Sandhill Crane Sanctuary.

The Beauty of Haehnle Sanctuary...before the cranes are even there!

Birding at the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary

Continued from Monday's post on Sandhill Cranes.

For the past four or five months I've been doing all my birding by myself, so I was really happy when Rick was able to sneak away from hockey and join me on my hunt for Sandhill Cranes at the Haehnle Sanctuary. We grabbed the wrong address from the website, so Jill the GPS Girl ended up leading us to the sanctuary chairman's house! We didn't bother getting out... Rick immediately got his iPhone out and pulled up the sanctuary's website, found the directions, and then used the map/GPS function on the iPhone to piece together a route to the sanctuary. YEAH! for the iPhone and for Rick's navigational skills. If he weren't with me, I doubt I would have found Haehnle. Driving to the wrong place wasn't all bad though, because if we had driven straight to the sanctuary, we wouldn't have seen those beautiful Sandhill Cranes out in the field from yesterday's post--so there's always a reason for everything.

When I saw this sign I got so excited! Isn't it cool?

I love those binoculars!

When you leave the parking area, you walk through a small wooded gateway that leads to an observation hill. There, laid out in front of you, is an expansive valley of color made even more dramatic by the sweeping cloud formations. As shadows cast by the clouds moved across the open wetland, colors would shift, first greens and yellows bursting, then blues as the sun lit up the water. In the late afternoon glow, the view was almost shocking it was so beautiful. A definite nip was in the air adding to the energy and excitement that seemed to be a natural component of the area.

When we first walked up, two Marsh Hawks (Northern Harriers)

were hunting in the scrubby trees. They were beautiful.

While driving back to the hockey rink, a third swept

past our car, surprising us. Even though the encounter

only lasted a second, it stuck with me. I had never

been that close to those gorgeous brown feathers...

...the water is rimmed by forest, shrubby fields and

a fairly new 35-acre meadow. We fought rain on and

off all day, but that was okay...the dark heavy cloud

formations made the view all the more gorgeous!

In the late afternoon sun, the whole field was lit in harvest

orange and yellow. I think we arrived at the perfect time.

The first two Sandhill Cranes come in for the evening.

We heard them before we saw them. I loved

listening to that incredible bugling sound...

The sun continued to lighten and darken the clouds,

creating a beautiful backdrop for the cranes as they returned

to the safety of the wet valley put aside just for them.

In the autumn, when you arrive in the evening to watch the Sandhill Cranes come in, you will find greeters there to answer questions or fill you in on the area's history. In addition, they have spotting scopes set up to give you a better look at other waterfowl on the lakes and ponds. While we were there we met Stu and Helena, who are very dedicated volunteers, taking part in supporting the sanctuary for over 30 years! Hi Stu and Helena...we really enjoyed meeting you! We will be back one of these days. Hope to see you there again. Stu just happens to be the Webmaster of the Haehnle site and Helena is his wife, so we really learned a lot. Click here to stop by the site for more information on the sanctuary and Sandhill Cranes.

Ann Arbor, Michigan...Hockey…and Sandhill Cranes!

Spotting Sandhill Cranes on the way to the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Audubon Sanctuary

Sandhill Cranes are endangered in Ohio, but just an hour or so north of the Ohio/Michigan border and only four hours north of Cincinnati, you can find the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sandhill Crane Sanctuary, a migration staging area for Sandhill Cranes. During the summer, between five and seven pairs nest at the sanctuary, but fall migration is when Haehnle really comes to life. At the peak of migration (end of October and the beginning of November) up to 2000 Sandhill Cranes will spill into the safe shelter of the sanctuary every evening to roost for the night. While we were there (October 3), between 150-200 cranes were expected to arrive that evening.

On the way to the sanctuary, Rick spotted this family

of Sandhill Cranes as I was driving down a beautiful

country road. I immediately did a U-turn, parked on

the side of the road and grabbed my camera. I was

pretty far away, but by cropping the images, you

can see their beautiful red "polls." (Click to enlarge.)

Juveniles do not have the red caps on their heads.

The bird in the middle is the baby of this family!

You can get an idea of their size by seeing them in

front of the corn. These are Greater Sandhill Cranes,

which stand 4 feet tall and have a wingspan of 6 feet.

Seeing these birds for the first time was spectacular.

I am now a huge Sandhill Crane fan and will be

reading up on them. I can't wait until I can return

to the sanctuary. There will be more to come

on the sanctuary in a day or so...

This weekend...
Friday at noon, Rick, Matty and I left for Ann Arbor, Michigan. Matty was in a Big Bear Hockey Tournament, and I planned on slipping out between games to visit the local birding hotspots. A Cincy birding friend recommended I contact Allan, “The Michigan Hummingbird Guy,” and his other friend, Greg, so I did. Allen told me about The Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary and Greg recommended the Nichols Arboretum on the University of Michigan's campus. (I just love the birding friend network! Wherever you go, usually someone knows someone who can set you straight! Thanks guys...I loved birding in Michigan and can't wait to return!) I also found the Waterloo Recreation Area all by myself (which isn’t hard to do…the park is over 20,000 acres!). I will be posting on these locations over the next few days. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up too. I’ve fallen way behind. I didn’t get to do any writing or visiting other blogs while in Michigan. I did get to visit another blogging friend, however…and I’ll post on that later as well!

Beak Bit

From the Michigan Audubon Society's pamphlet on Sandhill Cranes at the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary:

"Sandhill Cranes are living dinosaurs! Sandhill Cranes hold the record as the oldest living bird species. A fossil wing bone of a Sandhill was found in the Nebraskan deposit dating back 9 million years. Fossils from other members of the Order cranes belong to, Gruiformes, date back some 60 million years at a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth."

Click here to find photos of birds from around the world!