Sandhill cranes= drunk birds?

[tmschuller]

Saw the first flock of cranes the other day.. flying sort of southish.. then east then circled back west and continued south wardish.. again. Awesome birds to watch and listen to. I was with my soon to be son in law and he had never seen them before.

side note: another card carrier to the family.. up to 9 in the family!

 

[t-squared]

I’ve always thought that migrating in a straight line compared to circles made a lot more sense too.
They must be using Captain Jack Sparrow’s compass !

 

[Thor]

Maybe there's a reason some of these beasties end up on the endangered list that doesn't have much to do with us...

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

Saw the first flock of cranes the other day.. flying sort of southish.. then east then circled back west and continued south wardish.. again. Awesome birds to watch and listen to. I was with my soon to be son in law and he had never seen them before.

side note: another card carrier to the family.. up to 9 in the family!

They fly in circles because of thermal pockets. And you will hear them every late fall and every early spring. That’s when I know time is coming to winterize the bike and when to uncover her for the season.

 

[tmschuller]

They fly in circles because of thermal pockets. And you will hear them every late fall and every early spring. That’s when I know time is coming to winterize the bike and when to uncover her for the season.

same here.. I always see large amounts going overhead our place.. I also use them as gauge when the weather is about to turn. I love hearing them. One of my springers chased a flock out of the neighbors bean field and chased the flock until the fence stopped him. He came a proud pup.. I thought him to be more of a couch potato spaniel until then. Until then he really didn’t have much interest in birds..

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I just saw a flock of about 40 or so birds flying over my house just last week. Love how you can hear them coming before you even see them.

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

I just saw a flock of about 40 or so birds flying over my house just last week. Love how you can hear them coming before you even see them.

It’s like when you here a military jet/chopper. You just have to look up and find it.!!

 

[Magyars]

Heard a flock the other night. Didn't see them this time.
First time I saw/heard them I didn't know what they were.....

 

[hereforthecootbash]

be careful. sandhills have killed dogs. their beaks can pierce dogs sides deep enough to kill. they are so notorious for going for a dogs eyes that guys put goggles on their dogs when they are going to be retrieving cranes.

 

[tmschuller]

be careful. sandhills have killed dogs. their beaks can pierce dogs sides deep enough to kill. they are so notorious for going for a dogs eyes that guys put goggles on their dogs when they are going to be retrieving cranes.

Thanks! Didn’t know that. He never got too close before they flew out.. but still good to know.

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

be careful. sandhills have killed dogs. their beaks can pierce dogs sides deep enough to kill. they are so notorious for going for a dogs eyes that guys put goggles on their dogs when they are going to be retrieving cranes.

I did not know that either. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[DCR]

I've even seen them in February. Sometimes they're going south, sometimes north. I dunno what the heck they're doing.
I've also seen them in Venice, FL where many of them winter near neighborhood ponds.

Last week several flocks converged over my house just south of Eagle Creek Park. One flock numbered about 75. In total I saw over 200 birds in about 5 minutes. Pretty noisy.

I had a conversation once about them with a woman at Myakka River State Park east of Sarasota. We were discussing episodes of seeing them. Finally I realized she thought I was talking about Sarasota County. I said, "you mean you saw them along I-75? I mean I'm seeing them in Indianapolis." She had no idea where they went.

 

[Rollerman]

Medaryville in NE IN has an observation deck overlooking a field where 15,000 to 20,000 of the Sandhills & a few Woopers will hang out before going south in the fall.
I've went a few times & it's a pretty amazing sight.

 

[Twangbanger]

I saw a flock last weekend in S. Indy that I count-estimated at between 300~400 birds. That was the largest group I'd ever seen on the wing. Two groups merged into one "V" formation, and it was really amazing to see.

But true enough, there was no real sense of direction. They started out going South, then seemed to be heading more East. I assume they know what they're doing...

 

[shibumiseeker]

One evening at the Ranch I saw wave after wave of them going overhead. I counted a few Vs and they had 20-40 birds. There were several hundred Vs. My iPad did get a little video but nothing that did it justice. It was like out of WWII with bomber going over.

 

[Magyars]

Still remember the first time I saw them.
We had moved here from Virginia....I was out looking for arrow heads, and I heard this scratching cawing God awful sound.
Looking up I saw a huge flock of very large birds. The most unorganized flick I had ever seen... couldn't figure out what I what they were...took a while to put it together...
I have seen them many times since.
I hear them upriver all the time now

 

[hANNAbONE]

in my driving job I go drive by Kearney, NE which is the Crane capital of the world. They are known to have exceptional meat and are called the "Rib-eye in the sky"

 

[92FSTech]

I saw some the other day. They are cool to watch and listen to. There's a pond/marsh down the road from our house where I run and there are typically a few hanging around it in the spring and fall. A couple of years ago my wife and I drove to Chicago in the early spring and we saw thousands of them hanging out in flooded fields along US30 between Plymouth and Valpo...it was pretty cool.

I've heard the "ribeye of the sky" thing as well. Steven Rinella had an episode of meat-eater where they hunted them in Texas. Supposedly very good eating.

 

[huntall50]

I would like to harvest on one day, as I love hunting and ribeye...

 

[ditcherman]

They fly in circles because of thermal pockets. And you will hear them every late fall and every early spring. That’s when I know time is coming to winterize the bike and when to uncover her for the season.

Realizing I’m quoting your post from nearly a month ago, but I’ve just seen them in larger numbers this past week (between Christmas and New Years) and that seems really late to me. Just wondering if you had kept track of the timing and any correlation to the coming winter?