Sandhill Cranes and Fall Foliage

11/05/2018

Driving the back roads to my house last Friday, I came upon a group of 4 sandhill cranes in a rain-soaked soybean field.

I love to meander the country roads, and after two days of heavy rain I was hoping to get some photos of the autumn foliage before the leaves were gone. The sandhill cranes were a surprise bonus!

I had never even seen or heard of a sandhill crane until a trip to Wisconsin with Kim's family about 15 years ago, where we saw lots of them. And I so clearly remember the first time I saw them in Indiana...I actually HEARD them first in the early Sunday morning darkness, bugling and squawking in the field behind our house about 10 years ago. I couldn't wait for the sun to come up to find out what that sound was, and I was SO EXCITED I didn't want to leave for church.

Since then, we've seen a few of them nearly every fall and spring during their migration between summer breeding grounds up north and winter homes in the southern states.