Sandhill cranes return to Illinois in spring

The first migrant flocks of sandhill cranes rode southerly winds in early March to arrive in northern Illinois March 6. Many likely continued into southern Wisconsin, even beyond. With bright, clear skies and the wind behind them, cranes can cover hundreds of miles in a day.

Sandhills generally migrate in flocks or small groups. A typical migrating flock might contain 20-40 birds. Even in flight, they are vocal birds. Depending on wind direction their calls can often be heard even for several miles. That can make it confusing to try to find the birds, particularly against a gunmetal grey sky. The equally gray birds can be hard to spot. When the birds come in low and fas, you hear their voices as if they were coming out of the tree line. Then suddenly they appear overhead, wheeling and soaring, riding blustery winds or catching thermals and circling, depending on the day.

Having now watched sandhills come and go in Illinois for more than 30 years in birding, I still thrill to the sight and sound of them. But it was March 27, 1973 when my brother and I first witnessed sandhill cranes in migration. We were playing catch with a baseball in the middle of a north-south street in St. Charles, Illinois when the low, chirring roar of a massive flock of sandhills first caught our attention. The game of catch stopped suddenly and my brother spun around in time to see a flock that numbered more than 300 birds flying straight north like a squadron of bombers. Their voices rolled over one another and their wingtips seemed almost to touch. I sprinted in the house to grab the Sears 10 X 50 power binoculars we used for birding and gave us both a chance to glimpse the sandhills, a new bird on our life list, before they disappeared over the northern horizon.

Back then Canada geese were not yet common residents in Illinois, so at first my brother and I thought we were seeing geese in migration. But a quick flip through the Peterson's field guide confirmed our happy new sighting.

Since that period both species of birds, Canada geese and sandhill cranes, have established nesting populations in Illinois. The primary attributing factor to this nesting success seems to be protection of habitat, but perhaps also an improvement in environment in other ways, such as reduction in use of pesticides and other "invisible" factors that can adversely affect wildlife.

As for protecting sandhill cranes, in the early 1990s the Dupage County Forest Preserve system established a preserve within a preserve at Pratt's Wayne Woods to give breeding sandhill cranes peace and room they need to breed. But as the birds have become more common in Illinois it has become apparent that sandhill cranes are resilient, bold and fierce enough to breed in a variety of circumstances. Not always successfully. The pair that bred and tried to raise a chick at Braeburn wetland on the border of Geneva and Batavia in the late 1990s never returned to try again. The crane colt may have been struck down in heavy traffic along the commercial strip of Randall Road.

Nearby Dick Young Forest Preserve with more than 1000 acres of open space is more typical crane habitat. The annual crane breeding census conducted by birding volunteers and states wildlife ecologists shows breeding pairs have spread across Kane, Dupage, McHenry and Lake Counties. From an isolated pair or two in the early 1980s, the breeding population of cranes in Illinois is now well-established. The birds are a common sight now, popping up in farm fields and even suburban yards in search of food.

One of the breeding pairs at Dick Young Forest Preserve, located just west of Batavia on Main Street and Nelson Lake Road, keeps a fairly predictable schedule that I observed during breeding bird census walks.  Following their early clarion calls to greet the day just after dawn, the birds would fly out onto the restored prairie to feed. They would arrive at nearly the same spot at almost exactly 7:00 a.m., then methodically work their way across the stubble and weedy fields, grabbing food as they went.

From the observation deck on the east side of the marsh, I watched a pair of cranes in courtship one spring morning. The male danced and contorted his wings, bobbing and dipping as the female posed before him. Then the male mounted her with wings raised as the sun lit his primaries. The act was over in seconds but the scene appeared almost magical in its simple elegance.

The birds we have in Illinois are known as Greater sandhill cranes. They stand 46" high with a wingspan more than 70 inches and weigh over 10lbs. Lesser sandhill cranes breed much farther north, into the Arctic, is shorter-billed and shorter-legged than our local sandhills. All species variations exhibit the bright red "crown" on the front of the head, with white cheeks and generally grayish plumage, except in summer when some birds' plumage becomes rust stained through diet and preening.

Interestingly, cranes are part of the Gruiforme family of birds that includes gallinules, moorhen, liimpkin, coots and rails. One can see the familial resemblence between these species, albeit in somewhat stunted or shrunken, in the bills, neck and body shape of these smaller marsh-dwellers.

Cranes are a species revered in many parts of the world for their mystical qualities. Their voices, ancient, haunting and urgent, seem to call up some primeval sense even in human beings. Their interesting plumage variations, which in sandhills ranges from smokey grey to russet brown because of feeding habits, is almost always neat and tidy. Sandhill cranes often stand upright with necks fully extended when alert, or curl their necks into a graceful "s" as they walk steadily along. Recent attempts to encourage greater Whooping crane breeding success have led to these all-white birds migrating through Illinois guided by a glider on which the birds are "imprinted" and follow, for the most part, wherever the glider goes. Whooping cranes are being led to Florida as part of an attempt to establish a separate population from that which breeds in Aransas, Texas.

Their feet are as large as a human hand, and their legs trail behind them as they fly. One fall a small flock of sandhills passing overhead seemed to have an odd appearance. Through binoculars I saw that their feet were coated with mud and stuck leaves.

Certainly sandhills must have thrived on ancient prairies in Illinois when all the world could turn into a wetland following a sudden rain. Food was likely plentiful and predators could be seen from far off. Cranes and prairies, marshes and wetlands were made for each, evolved together and remain vitally linked in modern times. Perhaps it is this lineage, some preservation of original creation, that makes cranes seem so valuable a species today.