Last
weekend's Vicki Penziner-Matson field trip to northwestern Indiana
was a great success - a wonderful group of participants had some
amazing opportunities to see the Sandhill Crane migration at its
peak.
Seventeen
folks participated (Kit Austin, Bill Buskirk, Anna Ehler, Jessica
Green-Barnes, Jessica Halperin, Ean High, Katie Malcolm, Newell
Pledger-Shinn, Rebecca Prosser, Ellen Royce, Jim Seaney, Jane
Terashima, Jesse Varga, Chris Warren, Johnny Warren, Haley Wicklein,
and Ron Williams). We gathered in dark on campus and left at
6:00am; making it to the vicinity of Jasper-Pulaski State Fish
and Game Area by 10:00am. As soon as we were off the main highway
we began seeing Sandhill Cranes in the harvested agricultural
fields. At first we had flocks of several dozen birds, soon
we could see hundreds in sight at a time. The 4 foot tall, gray
birds were magnificent as they stood in the fields and breath-taking
in flight with their 7 foot wingspans, long necks stretched
out ahead and long legs behind.
After
checking in at the group campground at Tippecanoe River State
Park where we stayed in old WPA cabins (the main one with a
wood stove for warmth), we had lunch and returned to "JP"
for a hike out into the marsh areas. The day was clear, crisp
and beautiful and every where you could hear the calls of cranes
in the distance and in the skies overhead. We had great looks
at Red-headed Woodpeckers, Cedar Waxwings, Black-capped Chickadees,
and Great Blue Heron, as well as some OK sightings of male Wood
Duck, Gadwall and American Wigeon.
We
did a drive through more of the agricultural fields around the
refuge in the late afternoon. Some of the cranes were half-heartedly
going through their pair-bonding "dances" as they
prepared to head back to the refuge. We made it back to the
refuge and its observation deck before many cranes returned.
As it approached sunset, lines of cranes began arriving. Most
of the arriving cranes rested on an open field (locally known
as "Goose Pasture") out in front of the observation
tower. At first about 1000 were present. But soon droves began
to arrive, most coming out of the direction of the sunset -
parachuting and side-slipping out of the sky to land. The sound
of their haunting, rolling bugle calls filled the air. Some
birds arrived from the east, flying low over the heads of the
more than 400 people who had arrived to watch the spectacle.
By
the time the sun was setting, birds were landing relatively
close to the observation deck, giving excellent views of their
dances and clod tossing behaviors (courtship) through the spotting
scopes we had set up. Estimating there numbers was difficult
and our best guess was that more than 20,000 birds were present
- a number similar to the estimates provided by the refuge (22,000)!
As the sun set, flocks of more than a thousand at a time would
take up and fly back into the marshes north of the pasture -
to spend the night in shallow water, protected from predatory
coyotes, etc.
As
the cranes finished going to roost, we returned to our cabins
and a spagetti dinner prepared by all. After a brisk day outside,
bed time came early.
At
sunrise on the 14th we were up and about. We departed the state
park shortly after breakfast and traveled to Michigan City where
we checked out the birds (not many present) in the harbor and
off the lighthouse. We spent an hour on the top of near by Mt.
Baldy, an immense sand dune that's part of the Indiana Dunes
National Lakeshore, before heading back to Richmond.
For
me, this was a truly wonderful trip. The participants were exceptional
in their level of interest, mutual support, helpfulness and
good spirits. The cranes were as spectacular as I've ever seen
them - their haunting, ancient calls are still ringing in our
ears!
Bill
Buskirk
15 Nov 2004
