Sandhill Crane Migration!!

My sister-in-law called me one day out of the blue,

saying:

"Gotta pencil and paper? I have something you are going to want to attend!"

Being the adventurer I am (NOT so much with surprise ideas)

I quizzed her..

"What is it??"

Upon hearing the news, I did indeed run for a pencil and paper to get the details

to write down.

And then I made a reservation by calling the phone number given to me as fast as I could dial the phone.

What was it?

The local Audubon Society

was hosting

a trip out to the

Sturgeon River Sloughs

near Arnheim, Michigan

to

watch

the autumn

Sandhill Crane Migration!!!!

To say I was excited is an understatement.

I knew I probably wouldn't get any closeups

of these beautiful birds during the fly in,

but I had to go and watch it.

And, I had to TRY
and photograph it.

They said there weren't thousands of birds gathering at this site,

(like in someplaces in the U.S. during a migration), but that we'd see over a hundred fly in that night, around dusk.

I was so excited to go.

They only charged $5.00 to go, and a local shop agreed to "match" any money gathered

and donate it to the Audubon Society for this event.

That just sweetened the trip that much more.

So, my husband and I gathered both cameras that I own,

and off we went on the scheduled date (August 31, 2010).

 

Here is the group hiking out the the sloughs.  It was just about 1/2 mile from the parking lot:

About 30 people went with us.

We waited...

and

waited....

We spied some Bitterns, which are rare birds here (I will post their photos in another blogpost),

and we saw one blue heron fly in..

but

no

Sandhill Cranes.

We waited some more....

and

more....

and

more....

And then?

We heard them!!

They make noises like what you hear in Jurassic Park...almost sound like prehistoric dinosaurs!!
Click on THIS LINK to hear them!

And a group flew in!!!!:

Aren't they GORGEOUS??

One landing in a field:

(sorry about the unclear photo on this one..he was wayyyy far away and I had my lens at the strongest I could, with my image stabilization feature on..but still hard to capture!)

Another flying in over the treetops!:

Oh MY!:

Help me Rhonda! Help, help me Rhonda!!!!

Help me get them out of my heart...............

They kept coming in,

in groups of two,

then groups of 5,

then groups of eight or eleven:

We kept counting....and it was getting darker.

They were landing in tall grass for the night:

All in all, the group counted 156 (give or take four or five)...

We loved it!!!

I was so happy to be able to witness

this awesome ritual

of the U.P. Sandhill Crane Migration.

According to the group, they will continue to fly in to the same spot for a few weeks,

and then they will all fly south together

to join up with another group,

and another group

and so forth,

and continue on their trek down south.

So, for all my southern Blogger friends,

just a word to the wise....

get your cameras ready!!!

They are coming your way!!!

Say hi to them from Joan

when they fly in your area, ok????

Tell them I was the excited one

with the camera, clicking

it about a thousand times

trying to catch

them in midflight.....

****************************************************************************

Don't forget the FREE Monthly PHOTO CONTEST!!!

Submit ONE photo to me by Sept. 30, 2010

of the theme this month of:

WATERFALLS or FOUNTAINS!!

Follow these rules!

(Now, you MAY use a photo that you already published on your blog, I removed that silly rule!)