Grus canadensis
“There is a magical time that occurs each year in the heart of North America, when the river and the season and the birds all come into a brief conjunction. When that happens, it is simply called sublime.”
PAUL A. JOHNSGARD, Crane Music: A Natural History of North American Cranes
The river that ornithologist Johnsgard describes is the Platte. The season is spring and the bird is the Sandhill Crane, a bird older than the river and gray as the clouds of winter. They come because the Platte has a wide, shallow channel and thousands of sandbars, covered with just enough water to make ideal roosting places for cranes. Their waters are shrinking, but the sandbars offer night time protection, some native grasslands, and unharvested corn from the previous growing season. Their body weight increases by as much 18 percent, preparing them for the rigors of migration, breeding and nesting that lie ahead in the coming months.
In the early 1970s, the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI, began tracking and researching about the cranes. By 1988, an intensive study began. It was determined that there were only 100 cranes remaining in Wisconsin. In 1988, ICF began a study to better understand the natural history of these birds. They also began working with farmers to ensure the success of their conservation by assuring them that they would not suffer losses from having cranes on their land.
They first tried a pesticide called Lindane, which was found to be highly toxic. Since 2006, they have been using a chemical which has been found to have low toxicity and low environ- mental impact. It allows the cranes to access critical food items in cultivated fields, feeding on insects and leftover corn plants from the previous year.
(This information is found in the publication Reflections, the Story of Cranes, by Gretchen Holstein Schoff).
We often see cranes in the fields in this area as we’re driving by.