Birds and more birds

In last week’s column I talked about our trip to Nebraska to see the sandhill cranes. I spoke mostly about their migration and history of that migration. I didn’t, though, speak to the actual birds, individually.

Watching them coming in to the river to land was fascinating. Sandhill cranes are the supermodels of the bird world, tall, elegant and eye-catching with their gray plumage and crimson eye patches. They are long-legged water birds and as they begin their ascent to the shallow river their legs move to the front of their bodies so as to gently alight in the water. They land with a bit of a bounce but all in all it’s a graceful movement. Since there are hundreds and thousands of birds all coming to the same location at approximately the same time, the later birds to land go to the back of the crowd, and then everyone shifts forward, allowing space for the newly arriving cranes. No bickering, no picking on each other, just adjusting to the newcomers. What a concept. . .

The cranes are quite social, mating for life, and they chose their lifelong partner based on their dance moves, according to the Cornell Lab. They have a loud, bugling cry which can be heard over great distances, but which are unique to each bird. Sandhill crane families maintain tight bonds, often sticking together during migration, with young cranes learning migration routes and social behaviors from their parents. The cranes recognize the calls of their family members. When they fly, they don’t bump into each other, keeping their distance in the flock.

During our recent visit, the winds were quite strong – nearly forty miles per hour. This seemed to make the birds nervous and it took a while for them to settle down. As we watched, we saw the flock rise en masse high into the sky before settling back down into the shallow waters of the Platte River – twice that evening. Their ascent and descent reminded me of how, when you shake a rug, it flips out before quietly dropping back down into place. Such was the synchronization of the bird’s movements. We saw the same event the next morning, but this mass exodus was due to the arrival of – two eagles. Not sure how the birds notified the other members of the spread-out flock of potential danger but they all moved quickly to move out of harms way.

This adventure obviously made an impression on me. They are graceful animals whose instinct continues to allow them to adapt and thrive in sometimes negative environments for literally millions of years. We humans have both hindered and helped them as they continue their life journeys. We should take a page from their survival book and look out for each other at all times. Make room for the newcomers. Share the food. Warn others in our group of danger. Keep friends and families close. It works for them; surely it can work for us. We are, after all, more intelligent, right? And that, folks, is all that matters while sharing our world with all God’s creatures.