This week we went to the bird sanctuary near us and watched the Sandhill Cranes come in for the night. They spend the night in that wetland area you see in the first photo.
At first we saw a few small groups of cranes flying in. Then more and more larger groups and many groups at once. It was fun to hear them calling as they flew. The ones already on the ground in the wetland area would answer back.
I'm posting these pictures at a larger size so that you can click on them and see some of the groups of cranes in the distance.
(in the photos above and below you can see about 6 groups of cranes in the distance, surrounding the sun below the cloud)
Note the groups in the distance below just over the trees.
So. many. cranes.
This sanctuary is one of a few places where the Sandhill Cranes congregate before heading south together in mid November. We feel lucky to have seen so many on one visit. There were thousands coming in while we were there. Certainly, it the most we have seen in one night. It was a beautiful evening for bird watching.
