Friday, August 22, 2008

Sandhill Cranes

We all had some questions about the Sandhill Cranes earlier this summer and this week there was a very informative article in the local newspaper. If you want to read the whole article the link is: http://www.homernews.com/

The males are called roans and the females are mares. The article says that the roans are usually bigger, but the only way to tell is when they do their "unison call" - the roan lifts his beak to the sky and the mare lifts hers to a 45 degree angle. ???

Like I have time to sit around and wait for them to call in unison to tell which is which. Anyway, it also said that in captivity they can live to be 84 years old, but usually only 40 in the wild. Plus they mate for life and return every year to the same land. Except sometimes, when they are young they get divorced and then later usually return to the first mate, but sometimes not...

I liked where it says that if they are angry at people they will throw sticks at you. I have been trying to remember if we ever saw this behavior, but I don't recall if we did. Usually we watch them from a window or the porch, so they don't feel that threatened.

We believe they did have a chick this spring, I can't remember what the article called the chicks, but we think that stupid eagle got it. He just flys over our neighborhood like we are the drive-thru of a McDonalds or something.
Hope you enjoy the article. Love, Charlotte

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