Cranes

Not long after the two sandhill cranes had landed, we heard whooping crane calls from behind the blind. The two whooping cranes that passed over us must have landed in a field behind the blind and decided it was OK to come to the feeder side of the blind since the sandhill cranes seemed safe.

This is one of the two whoopers coming in to land.

The two whooping cranes landed pretty close to each other and near one of the sandhills.


The second whooper is flaring to land in the photo below. It's interesting to see the short feathers under the leading edge of the wing. This photo also shows great detail of the large feet for walking around in the marsh. Those claws on the feet could probably do some serious damage to prey and most enemies.

As the four cranes settled in, these two mingled close to each other in similar posture to provide an opportunity to see the size difference. Note that the whooping crane is slightly behind the sandhill crane making the true size difference even greater than this photo shows. The whooping crane is easily a foot taller than the sandhill.


Stay in touch!
Doug White

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