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Showing posts with the label sandhill cranes

Sandhill Cranes Migrating South on Thanksgiving 2023 - December 2023

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 Sandhill Cranes were migrating south above our house on Thanksgiving Day 2023.  I covered these large birds migrating NORTH earlier this year - March 2023 .  Below is a video showing the birds flying in a circle above Downers Grove late last month: This is the full list of posts about these fascinating birds .   I first posted about them in Fall 2020 . Spring northern migration 2021 . Spring northern migration 2022 . Spring northern migration 2023 . Fall southern migration 2023 .

Sandhill Cranes - Northern Migration - March 2023

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Sandhill Cranes flew over Northern Illinois on their commute back north this past week and how did I know?  When I was out in the yard, I heard that migration call from these large birds.   I've heard (and watched) these big birds fly over us the past few years - both ways.  Below is a video I took of them from our backyard - It isn't super steady, but if you turn up your volume, you'll hear that familiar croaking. Here's another clip from a year ago .   And here's the full archives of Sandhill Crane-related posts .  

March 2022 Sandhill Crane Northern Illinois Migration - Flying North

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'Tis the season to hear a 'loud, rattling bugle call' from high up in the sky and look up to see a marvel of nature:  Sandhill Cranes flying (as a group) as part of their seasonal migration.  I 've posted about this experience a few times here on the blog including last March when I shared video of the bugle calls . On my walk home from the train station this past week, I heard that familiar call.  And stopped, looked up and found the Sandhill Cranes flying high in the sky.   Here, below, are a couple of photos of this group flying in a couple of 'v-patterns' high above Downers Grove, Illinois in mid-March. I'm almost certain that my kids and Nat are tired of me stopping and talking about Sandhill Cranes, but I find them incredibly fascinating.  According to this post, there are about 20K Sandhill Cranes that migrate over Illinois .  I was fortunate to experience a couple hundred last week. 

Sandhill Crane Spring Migration North - Northern Illinois - March 2021

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On a recent afternoon, we had our backdoor open to enjoy the warmer temperatures when I heard that prehistoric call of the Sandhill Crane.  We live out in the Western Suburbs of Chicago and it was early afternoon in early/mid March of 2021 when I took this video below of a group of Sandhill Cranes flying in what sure seems like a circular pattern that continues to move north .  Almost like how a tornado moves across land.  They were, as is their pattern, flying pretty high in the sky, but that sound was unmistakeable.  This is a 2:30 video, but I've started the embed below at about half-way because that's when the noise is clearest.  Turn up your speaker and click play below: This is the northern migration that I've captured now, but I also posted a similar video of these same (well...probably not THESE same birds) heading south in late November of 2020 .  You can see that video here .   Wildlife Illinois says that 20K of these amazing-looking birds migrate through Illin

Sandhill Crane Migration - November 2020 - Northern Illinois

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I was out for a walk over the weekend when I heard a bugle-like noise and looked up to see a row of Sandhill cranes flying south high above the Western Suburbs of Chicago. Here's a video that I took of them - that if you turn your volume WAAAAY up - you can hear what they sound like: The DuPage County Forest Preserve District has this post up from one year ago that talks about these birds and their migration patterns .  They mention that there's a place in Indiana that sees thousands of these guys every year.  On the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area DNR site , they have a count.  As of this past week, they had more than more than 16K Sandhill Cranes there on site.  Woah.