Our Second Act- Creating Life on Nature’s Stage…

First let me start by thanking all of you for your comments, texts, emails and VMs regarding my blog posts- Thank you so very much. It is truly my pleasure to share you with you my experiences. It is my way to reveal the wonder of nature. I have had a couple of questions regarding my last post - here goes: 1) Barred owls generally lay 1-3 eggs which hatch after 28 - 32 days of incubation. I have not found the nesting spot…. yet…. 2) Time of day for wildlife and bird sightings - it is certainly possible to see wildlife and birds at any time - but many species, if not most, thrive at dawn and dusk. One example of a bird species that you can see anytime of the day - Sandhill Cranes - the topic of this post!

The Sandhill Cranes are back!! As you know I tried to locate them recently with no luck…. On Thursday morning I received an email letting me know that they had arrived - four of them!I They arrived back at the Ashfield property where I have permission to wander around. As is the routine - the parents fly back with the previous year’s young ones. As soon as they arrive it is as if the parents are saying - ok we got you back to your place of birth - now it is time for you to begin your own lives somewhere else in the neighborhood! The parents are immediately wanting and needing to mate so that the entire cycle can begin again which leaves them no time to pay attention to last year’s young ones.

I arrived in Ashfield at 6:25am on Saturday morning - 30 minutes before sunrise. It was a brisk March morning - thankfully just a slight breeze. I immediately put my face mask on and grabbed my camera gear and off to the swamp I went. It is hard for me to get my head around the fact that these birds have flown in from the Platte River in Nebraska to this exact spot year after year. Upwards to 500,000 Sandhill Cranes all congregate on the Platte River in January through early March before all leaving for their breeding grounds. It is my understanding that we had NO cranes here fewer than 30 years ago - but because of land conservation efforts we are now blessed to have a few of them arrive in the Hilltowns like clockwork each March.

Some more facts - Sandhill Cranes mate for life and can shares lives together for up to 20 years. They stay together year round. When they arrive in Ashfield and in the surrounding areas - they have one thing on their minds - mating. Sandhill Cranes are one of the oldest bird species on earth - I have read that there are fossils dating back two million years. To be in their presence is absolutely awe inspiring.

Come along with me for this amazing encounter -

Before the cranes nest I spend my time on the road side of the swamp looking due west into the swamp with the farm field directly behind me. Because we had a real New England winter this year, a lot of the brambles, grasses, cattails etc. took a beating this year - which meant I was going to have an easier time viewing into the swamp from this particular vantage point at this time of year. I could see that there was still a decent amount of thin ice throughout the swamp with some areas of open water. I was just about to where I have one of my my best views into the swamp when who did I see but both adult cranes! You guessed it - my heart started thumping away!

My first shot of the day…

A few minutes later - as dawn was edging closer to sunrise…This is the male - he is darker in color - the female has much more gray than he does…

None of my shots are tack sharp - that is because it was gorgeous lighting , but very challenging for me…. During the past 5 years I have spent countless hours watching the cranes and I have only seen what occurred next, one other time… and that time it was even darker and there were tons of bushes, branches etc between me and them. This was truly remarkable…. I hope that you enjoy this very special, and rare to me, sighting…