Sandhill Cranes

[JimBinMI]

Hey all,

Just thought I'd share an added benefit of having a rotary cutter. I posted back awhile that I purchased a 4' Woods rotary cutter for the Mighty TC18 tractor! Right when I got it I cut approx. 4-5 acres of field down to size and I haven't needed to mow it since.

We have Sandhill Cranes that usually only fly over our property to get somewhere else...except yesterday for the first time that we noticed, they grazed in our field. Yesterday morning we noticed about a dozen of these large prehistoric looking birds in the field just looking around for something to eat. That was really cool and we hope they come back again and again before heading south! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Never even saw these birds when we lived only 8 miles away in town.

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Thomas]

Jim,
I wonder if they were this year new born and resting before the long flight south.
Did you notice two different body sizes.



Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[JimBinMI]

Thomas,

Didn't notice, I'll look closer next time. Also, don't know how much they grow in the one season. Couldn't get a good picture from the house, not enough zoom on the camera, I might try to walk toward them for a photo that I could scan in and share. They look really cool when they land!

There's a Bird Sanctuary about 8 miles from here where my son and I went with the Scouts a couple years ago and saw lots of Sandhills and their nests. It's a marshy area with lots of cover. Lots of bird not "Bird" watchers gather there to check out these cool creatures.

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[JimBinMI]

Thomas and other interested parties,

Here's the web address of the bird sanctuary near me with photos.

http://www.michiganaudubon.org/bakersanctuary/index.html

Enjoy! JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Thomas]

Jim,
Those bird are truly breath taking and I sure like to see them in flight./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

You must almost be in the middle of a fly zone when the birds head south.

I believe it was more than a couple of years ago,but wasn't there Swans reported somewhere around your area?

Nothing like mother nature beauty no matter how she wishies to express it./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[MarkV]

Jim,

Is there anything you could plant that would encourage them back? I would love to look forward to an event like that each year.

 

[JimBinMI]

MarkV,

Don't know, right now the field is just wild growth. The field was in corn about 15 years ago but nothing since.
I might just have to check into what they like.

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[JimBinMI]

MarkV,

There were two more in the field this morning, so there must be something out there that they like. With my binoculars, I could see them eating! /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!