Sandhill Crane

This beautiful film is by Gerrit Vyn.

The Sandhill Crane is comparable in size and shape to the great blue heron, and although they are similar, the two species can be told apart by head colouring and posture. The forehead of the sandhill crane has a red patch of unfeathered skin.

During the breeding season, cranes rub mud on their feathers with their beaks and are often stained a rusty colour on their bodies as a result.

In Canada, the greater majority of cranes migrate through the prairies to winter in the southern states. Here In BC, the cranes pass through the central interior, migrating between wintering areas in Texas and nesting areas in the bogs and marshes of Alaska and the Yukon.

Thanks to Robert Steelquist we know that along the BC coast, “Our” (west coast) birds, particularly the birds seen migrating over Vancouver Island, winter in California’s Central Valley, near Portland on the Lower Columbia River and Lower Fraser Valley. The southern birds reach the coast by way of the Lower Columbia River, Chehalis River Valley, Puget Sound, or the Strait of Georgia, cross to Vancouver Island and proceed north over Vancouver Island. Their breeding range extends approximately from the north tip of Vancouver Island, northward through the islands of the BC Coast, Haida Gwaii and into Southeast Alaska. This population was formerly designated as a subspecies (“Rowanii”) but recently downgraded as an intermediate form of Greater Sandhill. Currently, they are called “Canadians.” A small number of cranes seem to spend both winter and summer in the Lower Mainland. Reifel Island Bird Sanctuary near Ladner has a small group of non-migratory birds that visitors can watch from a close range.

the cranes pass over Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii as they migrate to Texas for the winter. If you are up on Forbidden Plateau during the fall, you will have a good chance to see sandhill cranes as they pass overhead, It is an awesome sight to see and when you hear them calling as they fly by, you will remember the sound forever. It always gets me quite excited.

When it comes to nesting, cranes are selective and need very large territories (up to 100 hectares) in large open wetlands.

Nests are built attached to vegetation in shallow water or at least close to water. Both parents build the nest, a mound of plant material pulled up from around the site and anchored to surrounding vegetation. Both parents take turns incubating the two eggs. The young leave the nest within a day of hatching and follow their parents out into the marsh. At first, both parents feed the young, but the young quickly learn to feed themselves. They remain with their parents for the first nine to ten months.

A message from Bud

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