The Sandhill Cranes are Returning to the Great Valley!

We were leaving the house to run some errands this afternoon. We heard an odd sound coming from the sky. We looked far and wide and couldn't pick out the responsible party, but the call was unmistakable: it was the trilling call of the Sandhill Cranes (Grus Canadensis). Their call carries for long distances, so it wasn't too odd that we couldn't see them, but it was enough to convince us to check out the Beckwith Road portion of the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge. We grabbed some In 'n Out burgers and headed west for a quick picnic.

The viewing platform won't be open for another week or two, but the road passes through a mile or two of refuge property, so we had a chance to look for arriving migrants. We didn't see any at first, but west of the platform, we saw three individuals in a plowed field. Once we knew some of them had arrived, we looked more carefully in the distance and saw several dozen of them off to the south near the refuge ponds (Miller Lake). The pictures are fuzzy from the thermal waves emanating from the ground. As more arrive, they will spend more time near the road, and pictures will get sharper.

Ultimately, the number of Sandhill Cranes at our local refuges will number in the tens of thousands! They are coming from their breeding grounds in the far northern parts of Canada and Alaska. It is an incredible sight, so if you get the chance, check out the San Joaquin, San Luis, or Merced National Wildlife Refuges for a dramatic vision of one of the great migrations on our planet (I've included a map for the San Joaquin Refuge at the end of the post).

The was a Black Phoebe standing guard at the not-yet-open viewing platform. He struck a defiant pose, and I only got the one picture, so it's a bonus shot for this post.

Here's how to get to the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge...