Here's a walk I took at a state park for this #wednesdaywalk by @tattoodjay. As this only features birds this is also for the #featheredfriends community by @melinda010100
I finally figured out where the sandhill cranes raise their babies around here.
I found three pairs of cranes and two of them had two babies each.
This is the pair that didn't have any babies, unless they are hiding out in the grass somewhere...
The place where I found them is called Moraine State Park in Northern Illinois.
As you can see it's mostly a large marsh area with long winding paths around the marshy areas. The cranes seem to like the tall reeds to hide their babies in. Here they can hunt various frogs, insects and vegetation.
This is the other family of cranes. They were hanging out in a more swampy area.
I had never seen what the babies looked like before.
Their coloring almost resembles the color of a deer. They camouflage pretty well against the brown reeds.
This little guy was wandering away from the parents, they had to reel him back in later.
The babies seems to like to wander away from the parents.
The parent cranes have to kind of flank their babies between them to keep them in line. I wonder what they were hunting for in this grassy area?
Here is a closeup of one of the parent's faces. They seem to have slightly different coloring while they are up here in Illinois. The only other place I've seen sandhill cranes is in Arizona where they stay for the winter. Once they get there they seem to lose their brown coloring and turn all gray. Also they seem to get more red area on their head during winter.
That's it for this #wednesdaywalk
Great shots! I don't think I've ever seen this kind of crane in person (I'm a Texan, also lived in Tennessee.) That coloration around the eye is really cool looking...
You might have heard or seen them flying above in Tennessee usually early spring. They are pretty loud when they are flying in formation above.
Wonderful birds! Lovely shots, it must have been great to see these birds!
Thanks, I actually went back there two times over a span of a week and saw that the families were still in the same general area so I was able to get some better shots from when I saw them at first.
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I see them frequently but have never had an opportunity for photos like this! Nicely done!
They are impressive birds, especially when they gather for migration and there are hundreds of them together!
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Yeah when I lived in Arizona there is a town called Wilcox where they all overwinter at in some sulphur hot springs. Here I usually see them flying over in v shapes but this is the first time I've seen them with their young.
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Beautiful to observe...😊
I hope they are still there this weekend.