Sandhill crane slowly winging its way back
- John Lorson: The Rail Trail Naturalist
- February 1, 2020
- 1167
A pair of sandhill cranes stalk the tall grass for a meal. Omnivorous and equally well-equipped to both grab and gather, sandhills will eat just about anything they can find. From insects, snakes, frogs and field mice to seeds, tubers and other vegetation, the birds graze in many open settings. Listed as “threatened” in Ohio, the enormous birds are making a comeback in our area.
I remember quite vividly the first time I ever encountered a sandhill crane. It was a cold, hopelessly foggy morning in the duck boat, and my buddy Marc and I had been socked in for several hours waiting for the ground-cloud to lift — or even thin enough for us to see our own decoys.
A scattering of ducks had buzzed us now and again, but we had yet to even raise our guns. Finally, in mid-morning the always hoped for but seldom seen “duck wind” from dead north picked up. The fog thinned in minutes. That’s when we heard what I would later describe as “the sound of a half-dozen people randomly dropping ping-pong balls onto a wooden table.”
Plunk, plunk-plunk-plunk. Plunk, plunk-plunk-plunk. Plunk, plunk-plunk-plunk.
“What in the world is that?” Marc said as we cocked ears and eyes toward the sky, marveling over the sound.
Before we even had time to theorize, a single-line echelon of 15 gigantic birds appeared, easily winging their way along the west rim of the Killbuck Valley. Still distant, as they drew nearer, we eliminated the possibilities one by one.
Not swans — these birds had long legs trailing behind. Not blue herons — this crew flew with necks extended straight out. Even their wing beat was something new to us. They seemed to hold to sort of a “fluttery glide.” Finally, having exhausted all other rational possibilities, we each checked off sandhill crane in our life-book of birds.
That was the early 1980s, and giddy with the joy of finding something new, I dug around a bit to learn that although the birds were known to migrate through the state from nesting areas in Ontario and beyond, none had been observed nesting in Ohio since the mid-1800s.
That was to change in 1985, as the first Ohio nesting in likely more than 100 years was observed in the Funk Bottoms area. Since then the number of sandhills both nesting and migrating through has increased steadily, if not dramatically, and constitutes yet another “beyond and back” wildlife story for the state.
Today, and I mean “this very day,” you have a very good chance of spotting a sandhill crane or two if you travel the Holmes County Trail. I’ve observed the birds in every month of the year along the stretch of trail between Holmesville and Millersburg. While many populations of sandhills migrate as a rule, our locals seem to remain in the area unless the conditions become unbearably harsh.
The omnivorous birds are great at taking advantage of the pick of the season and are content to walk the lowland crop fields, gleaning grains in the morning and grabbing wetland crawlies like frogs, snakes and tadpoles in the afternoon. A bit of frozen ground doesn’t deter them from scratching with long-clawed toes to uncover worms and the like that they snatch up with a long, sharp and serrated bill. You can spot them, almost always in pairs or small family groups, slowly walking the tilled fields along the trail.
I’ve seen a number of sandhill hatchlings, known as “colts,” join their parents over the years. Nesting in our area seems to begin in March with the young hatching after just over a month of incubation. I’ve seen colts arrive in singles and pairs over the years, but that’s as prolific as sandhills get — thus the “slow and steady” population increase.
Leggy birds at a full 4 feet tall, sandhills avoid danger in giving themselves a broad view of the landscape by standing erect with necks extended fully, just as they fly. You’ll often find them working a field at the single point most distant from every road, hedge, tree line or any other bit of cover that could harbor a threat.
By the time you see them, they’ve already seen you, and they’ll invariably move away, taking long, slow steps that make them appear to simply drift across the land. Light to medium gray with varying degrees of rusty tint, adult sandhills sport a distinctive scarlet crown and an impressive 7-foot wingspan.
It is entirely appropriate to thank sportsmen and sportswomen for the return of the sandhill crane to our area. It has been these folks — hunters, trappers and fishers — who, through their license fees, fundraising, volunteer efforts and advocacy, have worked to set aside, preserve and enhance critical wildlife habitats like the Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area (Ohio’s largest wetland area beyond the Lake Erie region) and the nearby Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area. Without habitat there would be no “comeback stories.” Without sportsmen there would be much less critical habitat.
Write The Rail Trail Naturalist, P.O. Box 170, Fredericksburg, OH 44627, or email jlorson@alonovus.com with comments or questions about the natural world. I’d love to hear from you.