Sandhill cranes

Do you catch his podcast? My nephew ice fished with the guy.

I listen to the podcast Pug, great info he shares, loved the one on ice fishing.

Lot of cranes in western MN as well, mainly pass through, but have a few that hang around year round. A lot more trumpeter swans that stay in the area the past few years as well. Populations must be on the rise.

Agree on the swans. See more every year up north. We may end up with a nesting pair this year on our lake.

tegg wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>catmando wrote:</div>
Plus here in western Wis, the tundra swans are everywhere.

Are they Tundras or Trumpeters? I know the Tundras migrate thru but I thought the nesters were Trumpeters. I may be wrong on that. At any rate, I’ve been seeing swans throughout the nesting season at the fam prop as well.

They’re Tundra swans.

They fly in huge flocks on their way back to the Arctic Circle.

I’ve seen a single field with thousands of swans in it. It’s a crazy sight that only lasts a few days, then they’re gone as fast as they came.

Here’s a cool video that shows their migration.

https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/swan_tundra

I think they hunted sandhills on an episode of Meat Eater.
DT

Aaron Kalberer wrote:

I listen to the podcast Pug, great info he shares, loved the one on ice fishing.

In the ice fishing podcast, Joe from MN is my nephew.

mplspug wrote:

In the ice fishing podcast, Joe from MN is my nephew.

The one a few weeks ago from Alaska? Very cool, it was an awesome podcast.

Yes. He’s been living in AK since graduating from college. He works as a surveyor up there, so he has to fly all around AK. I believe he went to Vermilion Community College, so he’s been a true outdoorsman since high school. He’s married now and they just got one of those deep metal boats that they use in AK. He’s living his best life.

Xbomber8X wrote:

Great kill and cook episode on Meat Eater on Netflix. Season 5 episode 10, they look delicious!! On a side note “Meat Eater” is an AWESOME show!!

Meat Eater is awesome! The eelpout fest show was hilarious!

Regarding the sandhill cranes. Up to about 5 or 6 years ago I had never seen or heard of one. Then one day in my backyard I hear this caterwauling and it sort of freaked me out. I was like WTF is that?

They are nesting about an eighth mile from my house and we have them fly over all the time and they feed in the field behind my house. I see these birds every single day from mid March on now.
It was funny watching them when we had 18 inches of snow on the ground. I wondered what was going through their head as they dealt with all the snow. LOL
The farmers do not appreciate them much, nor do they like the wild turkeys around here.

Summertime in East Bethel.

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Tell them, “no fowl guys.”

I was in Centerville today and saw 6 along I35 coming back home. Before I got to 694.

Never seen a group bigger than one or two of em, that would be fantastic though. Such a cool bird.

“I was in Centerville today and saw 6 along I35 coming back home. Before I got to 694.”

I live by the correctional center in Lino Lakes and there at least two nesting in their holding pond for the 1st time. My property borders the prison and I have a pond, so expect to see some there someday. They fly over me often. I see them more and more on golf courses, as well. Cool birds.

Sandhills are an awesome bird. Another large, long-legged bird that is fun to watch is the Great Egret. These are larger than the Blue Herons and aren’t as common a sight in these parts, but Ma and I have seen more than a couple in recent trips around the area. Great Egrets tend to be a very solitary bird. They are beautiful creatures though. We watched one in a Mississippi River backwater one day for about 30 minutes before it moved on.

nhamm wrote:

Never seen a group bigger than one or two of em, that would be fantastic though. Such a cool bird.

I currently have 3 wandering the neighborhood. One pair and a single. Last year I think we had 5.

Nice pic, Biggill.

In east central MN where I grew up, we seldom saw Sandhill Cranes. Now I see them every day I’m out up there in the summer.

Last summer we had a pair of Sandhills on my hunting property. My dad was out there several days working on various projects and the Sandhill family would follow him around and watch him work. He had no idea why they would do this, maybe east central MN is just really a dull place for cranes to spend the summer, but whether it was planting apple trees or cleaning out a culvert, suddenly here come the Sandhill cranes to oversee the project, they would stand about 20 feet away and watch every move as if it were the most interesting thing they’d ever seen.

Grouse

Sandhills will forage on bugs. Stir up the bugs and they hang around to feed.

We see loads of Sandhills in Central Wisconsin. Many around all summer.In the fall they bunch up just before migrating South. Have seen as many as 3 or 4 hundred in a flock in the fall.