Sandhill Cranes’ Dance of Life

The Sandhill crane is both a blast from the prehistoric past and gracious reminder of the dance of life. The term ‘dancing cranes’ does apply the Sandhill variety, as courting cranes stretch their wings, pump their heads bow, and leap into the air with energy. The oldest Sandhill crane fossil is estimated to be 2.5 million years old, and they can live to be decently old—the oldest on record was 37 years.  

Sandhill Cranes breed in open wetlands and nest in marshes, bogs, wet meadows, and prairies. Breeding range is from Alaska to the northern Midwest, the Platte River in Nebraska a key stopover site during migration. The Prairie Pothole Region is also a key area for breeding and migration. They winter in the southern U.S. and northern Mexico, roosting on shallow lakes or rivers at night and spending the day in irrigated croplands, pastures, grasslands, or wetlands

Sandhill Crane’s call is a loud, rolling, trumpeting sound whose unique tone is a product of anatomy: Sandhill Cranes have long tracheas (windpipes) that coil into the sternum and help the sound develop a lower pitch and harmonics that add richness. These cranes are very large, and folks sometimes confuse them with herons. Their legs are long, with a bustling gray body, slender neck, black beak, and red crown. 

Diet is omnivorous and dependent on season and habitat. They eat mostly grains, seeds, and plants, but also eat insects, berries, snails, reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, and aquatic invertebrates. 

It’s romantic: Sandhills mate for life, choosing mates based on their dance. Nests are made with vegetation near shallow waters. It’s not known whether males or females choose the nest site. If one member of a pair dies, the surviving member may reuse its previous nesting area with a new mate. Though young can leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching, they stay with the parents through winter until the next spring. A brood is typically only two eggs, though often one survives. 

These cranes can travel long distance, some cross the Bering Straits every spring and fall, en route to and from nesting grounds in Siberia. During migration and winter the family units group together with other families and nonbreeders, forming loose roosting and feeding flocks—in some places numbering in the tens of thousands. Eggs, nestlings, and injured or sick adults may be hunted by foxes, raccoons, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, crows, ravens, eagles, and owls. Cranes attack aerial predators by leaping into the air and kicking their feet forward. They threaten terrestrial predators by spreading their wings and hissing, eventually resorting to kicking.

Sandhill Cranes are stable, though their fate is tied to wetland conservation. Populations recover slowly, partly because each breeding pair usually has only one chick per year that survives to fledge. It’s particularly important to conserve wetlands in the ranges of nonmigratory populations and in staging and wintering areas where large migratory flocks congregate.

Original mixed media on raw stretched canvas with maple float frame. Alternative hardwood frames available upon request. Alternative hardwood frames available upon request.

Sources: All About Birds and Audubon Society.