A second Sandhill Crane Family in the Preserve

One of the Sandhill crane colts observed at the Biocore Prairie. Note the stubby little "arms" that will take some time to grow into strong wings. Photo Mike Bailey

This morning on one of his frequent birding walks in the Lakeshore Preserve, Mike Bailey spotted a family of Sandhill Cranes with two very young colts. He met up with them at the Biocore Prairie. "...due to the size of the youngsters, they had to have been hatched nearby," Mike states. How great it was to see them close up!  When we compare the size of these young colts with the two colts on the preceding blog post, photographed by Glenda Denniston on May 19, it appears that these cannot be the same family of sandhill cranes. According to Mike, it's "only 1200-1300 feet from the Class of 1918 marsh to where I took the photos today, so being the great walkers they are, they could have covered that distance... It'd be quite a coincidence for there to be two sets so close to one another, but who knows?"  In the nineteen days since Glenda's photo, the colts would have grown noticeably, too. 

If any of you birders out there can confirm, please respond to this blog. Gisela