The Sandhill Cranes are filtering through the area this week. Sometimes in ones and twos sometimes in bigger groups. Most we just hear flying overhead but a couple have touched down for a quick regaling stop on their journeys north.
We encountered these two in an old farm field now for sale and with plans for development (probably another wonderful strip-mall) as other mall and townhouse are being built just behind them. It really drove home that habitat loss is occurring faster than you can shake a stick at and it really will not be long before the consequences are so few migrating large birds and animals they will feel extinct to most of us.
This Crane had very attractive plumage and I could spend hours admiring it.
The Cranes will be filtering through for the next month or so and I will enjoy every one I see.
nature has no boss 
It is sheer bliss when the sandhill cranes come through, I can imagine the joy, Mike, and it shows in these photos. Clear and beautiful, you captured the cranes with finesse. This is good, for who knows the future for the migration in this area.
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HI Jet, Sandhill Cranes a such interesting birds and remind me so much of the little dinosaurs they once were. Watching them is like a time machine and a documentary movie on evolution all rolled into one.
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Such majestic birds. You’ve captured their grace and beauty well.
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Majestic, gracefully and beautiful sums it up well along with just a bit peculiar to boot.
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To me, these birds have a haunting beauty.
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That is a nice way to describe them as there is a character to them at is indeed other worldly.
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I love sandhill crames. So beautiful!
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Yes, they are indeed beautiful and so very unique.
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I finally saw sandhill cranes in the wild this winter! I agree that they are incredible and well worth admiring for hours and hours. I mourn the loss of habitat that is undermining their and other birds and animals and their survival.
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HI Patti, glad to got a peek at these wonderful birds this winter. Mourning the loss of habitat is something that I seem to do every day. Once it is covered by asphalt it seems pretty correct to pronounce it dead. Birds and animals are resilient but species have a breaking point. We are mourning right along with you.
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I love hearing them fly over…almost invisible so high in the bright sky but very vocal so you know they are passing overhead. On the ground they have a lingering spark of the dinosaurs.
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Hi, we also enjoy hearing them fly overhead. They can make quite the sounds and we always find ourselves looking low in the sky only to finally locate a migrating group way, way up in the sky. It is amazing. We also feel that spark of dinosaur in them and it makes us realize the evolutionary like life has is still going strong. Hope your weekend is going well.
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Wonderful shots – here’s hoping the habitat loss isn’t as you fear…
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Hi Adam, I hope habitat loss is not as I see or perhaps feel yet seeing so much of the land I have lived around in the west be steadily paved under and the march of population into these areas give me little hope. The long history of the spread and actions of humans on the planet, increased consumption and ever increasing use of the planets resources only reinforces what I have seen in my short lifetime. I struggle to optimistic for the fate of much of the planets non-human life forms. Humans may find a technological solution to feed themselves for centuries to come but only at the cost of most of earths other life. I hope these thoughts are proved wrong.
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How nice that you live in a location where you see cranes regularly, Mike. They are so inspiring. When, oh when will we learn that we need wilderness to survive?
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Hi Tanja, it is nice to have the Sandhill Cranes filter through each spring as we only get to see a few each year. We as well as all the other life forms depend on lands that remain un- or little developed and somewhat free of human influence. Quiet land so to speak.
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We definitely need more Quiet Land!
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Thanks for posting these beautiful images, we cannot let such colour disappear from the planet 🌎 MM☘️
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We very much agree. We must all fight to protect lives other creatures and if we look at undeveloped land as a creature into and of itself the picture becomes just a bit clearer that empty land is a life worth saving. For the good of us all.
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Oh how I love these birds!
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HI and yes they are amazing and beautiful birds.
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Beautiful shots, I love these birds!
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Thanks Claire, Sandhills are such unique creatures. Living dinosaurs the connect us to the past. Hope your weekend is going well.
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