The San Luis Valley is the major spring and fall migration stopover for the Rocky Mountain population of Greater Sandhill Cranes. The major festivals here at Monte Vista NWR are the Spring Crane Festival and the Fall Children's Crane Festival.
We arrived here in late April, after the Sandhills had departed for points north. But this afternoon I was outside and saw six large birds gliding in with their long legs hanging down. Our first fall Sandhill Cranes!! The area behind our trailer is grown up with barley, which the refuge plants as feed for the migrating cranes.
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| Feeding on the Barley |
When we first looked, we thought that the brown birds were this year's young.
But a look at Sibley's Field Guide revealed that many summer adult birds have "rust-stained plumage", and the red caps on these mean that they are indeed adults. I guess it is always a good idea to check your references!!
We look forward to many more cranes arriving through the month of September. Stay tuned for better, closer pictures...
Mark
Don't you love hearing the cranes talking to each other when they are so high up in the sky? What a great sound! By the way... did you meet Katy... an SCA worker who is GPSing trails? If you see her, tell her howdy from us.
ReplyDeleteMany adult Mississippi sandhill cranes 'paint' their feathers with mud resulting in rusty colored feathers. They do it for camouflage purposes.
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