Description: Long-legged, long-necked birds that might be mistaken for a member of the heron family. Sandhill Cranes are tall gray birds with bald red heads and white cheeks; they stand up to 4 feet high with a 6 ½ feet wingspan; tufted feathers over the rump.
In some areas, Sandhills’ plumage can take on a deep rusty brown color during spring and summer. This comes from preening iron-rich mud into their gray feathers. When fall starts, these rusty feathers molt and the birds return to their grayish appearance. In Louisiana, however, iron-rich mud is absent and the birds appear grey all year.
When: Sandhills are winter visitors in Louisiana from mid-November to early March.
Where: Flocks of a couple hundred can be seen in Holmwood (Cameron Parish) and Cheneyville (Rapides Parish) in fallow agricultural fields which provide a wide variety of plant tubers, grains, mice, snakes, insects and worms for their diet. Cranes are occasionally reported in central and north Louisiana in harvested rice and corn fields. In these areas look for cranes flying overhead making a deep, loud, buglelike rattling ‘kar-r-r-o-o-o’.
Breeding: Sandhills do not breed until two to seven years old. Males and females resemble each other and can live until the ripe age of twenty. Pairs mate for life and stay together year round.
Interesting facts: As late as 1919 Cranes used to nest in Louisiana. Crane behavior includes dancing, bowing, jumping, running and wing flapping. During migration up to half a million birds congregate at established staging areas or stopover points such as the North Platte River Valleys in Nebraska.
Contributer Harriett Pooler has been an avid bird watcher for the past seventeen years, and is a member of the LA Ornithological Society. For questions or comments contact her at Harriett.pooler@gmail.com.
