Growing up in Chico Calif offered me some insights I will share. My
experiences seeing crane migration were days with good thermal action and when
those days occurred thousands of cranes could be seen circling out of sight.
The noise was pretty spectacular and an attention getter. A very large
population of cranes from the pacific flyway winter around the Chico area this
was a annual event. I do not remember cranes at night but do with snow and
greater white-fronted geese as they migrated through at night. One of my
fondest memories are trick or treating as a kid and always peering up at the
flocks upon flocks of snow geese as they came over town just above the street
lights. They were white wisping ghosts appearing and disappearing in seconds
as they went by. I had a luck childhood.
Bob Flores
Ridgefield, WA
On Feb 22, 2016, at 08:07, Cathy Nowak
<cathy.nowak@xxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:cathy.nowak@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Several years ago I spent time surveying for owls at the Boardman tree farm,
then owned by Potlatch (mentioned a few weeks ago in a post about wildlife at
the tree farm). While I was out in the cold, quiet dark between about 7 PM and
midnight in February, I often heard what seemed like very large flocks of
sandhill cranes flying north. I was not yet paying much attention to cranes at
the time but that experience led me to think they were primarily night-time
migrants. I realize now that is not the case but they certainly do migrate at
night. I suspect they will move whenever wind and weather are favorable for
efficient movement. It seems a good south wind might substitute for daytime
thermals.
We still have just a small number of cranes on Ladd Marsh (near La Grande)
although I have not been out yet this morning to look. As of yesterday, I
could only find 21 birds on the wildlife area and I have not yet seen any of my
banded birds. That may change today…
M. Cathy Nowak
Certified Wildlife Biologist®
Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area
59116 Pierce Rd
La Grande, OR 97850
541-963-4954
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Pamela Johnston
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 7:50 AM
To: noah.strycker@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:noah.strycker@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: carrotguy55@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:carrotguy55@xxxxxxxxx>;
obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
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Subject: [obol] Re: Speculation about crane movent
I am not surprised that Noah has heard them flying at night, living on their
usual route. Cranes have to avoid overheating on these long flights, and night
flying is a great help.
Pamela Johnston
On Feb 20, 2016 3:57 PM, Noah Strycker
<noah.strycker@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:noah.strycker@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi birders,
For what it's worth, in the past, I've had migrating cranes go over my house
(east of Creswell) at all hours. The flock that passed here day before
yesterday was at 11:20 p.m. and I've heard them in the dark before, even once
on a foggy night. I suspect there aren't as many nocturnal "sightings" during
migration because birders are at home/asleep, but the cranes do move at night,
too.
Weather fronts may impede their progress, I suppose, but they don't drop to the
ground very often in the southern Willamette Valley. They are predictable in
their timing. Before catching them on Feb 18 this year, the last spring
detection I had at home was on Feb 17, 2013. I've had them southbound during
the first week of November in multiple years.
Good birding,
Noah Strycker
Read about my record-breaking 2015 worldwide Big Year at
audubon.org/noah<http://audubon.org/noah>.
On Sat, Feb 20, 2016 at 3:39 PM, roger freeman
<carrotguy55@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:carrotguy55@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I am about 70 miles from Eugene as "the crane flies" and have a clear view.
If they continue and stay on the east edge of the valley, might get a chance
here in the next 1-2 hours.
Roger Freeman
East of Silverton
On Saturday, February 20, 2016, paultsullivan
<paultsullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:paultsullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I just checked map navigation and it says a trip from Cottage Grove to Sauvie
Island via I-5 is 150 miles and would take 2. 5 hours at freeway speeds. I
don't expect cranes to go 65 MPH.
So will the birds fly on through tonight or stop over somewhere? Do we know any
stopover places? Fern ridge maybe? Others?
Paul Sullivan
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