The Most Soothing Birdcall: Sandhill Cranes at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge

They don't call them songbirds for nothing. Many birds produce wonderful melodies that lift the heart and all that kind of thing, but for a soothing calming moment few birds can match the purring of the Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis).

The Sandhill Cranes spend their summers far to the north in Canada or Alaska, but in winter they come to the Great Valley by the tens of thousands. For the past two weeks more than a thousand of them have been grazing and foraging in the cut cornfields visible from the viewing platform on Beckwith Road (the corn is grown specifically to feed the geese and crane who winter here). The platform is part of the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge and the birds have been quite close during my last few visits. And they are beautiful to photograph.

This afternoon some of them were hanging out in the fallow field near the viewpoint that is (already!) starting to bloom.

I've never managed to capture their soothing song before, but this week I got some pretty good video, and the birds were quite vocal.

The viewing platform is located near the west end of Beckwith Road out of Modesto, about 8 miles west of the Vintage Faire Mall. It will be open for another month or so while the geese and cranes await the thawing of the lands up north. It will be very quiet without the Sandhills!