Cranes

 

Thick muscular wings. Tall, gawky bodies, awkward, gangly, long, stilty legs, with fluffy brown and silver bodies like unshorn lambs. Look like loaves of bread sunning on the levee in the late afternoon.

Delicate and graceful as leaves whirling in an eddy, they dance, skip, and float on the air, leaping over one another in an unworldly ballet, wonder on the water, out there in the pool.

My dear friend Kris took me on an outing to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and Cayuga Lake State Park yesterday. We were both up long before o'dark thirty and left my house just before five. We were at the visitor's pool just before seven-thirty.

Northern Pintail drake

The Sandhill Cranes were there as had been reported recently on various Facebook pages and eBird. They danced and sang for us, their songs as uncanny and prehistoric as any Hollywood movie track, only as real and the pools they played in. We stayed as long as they did, then headed out to tour the refuge for the entire day, other than a short side trip to Cayuga Lake in search of the near mythical Red-headed Woodpeckers we had been reading about.

The latter were common during my college days way back in the first years of the 1970s. When I used to sneak out of class to ride the dirt roads south of Fonda, or rode a then-young Magnum on those same dirt roads, I saw them everywhere.

I love the size contrast between these Trumpeter Swans
and the ducks around them. Big birds!

Until yesterday I hadn't seen one since then. However we spoke to a nice gentleman at May's Point Pool, who instructed us right to the exact tree where to find them. As soon as we reached the appointed spot we saw one flitting away and joined an ever changing-group of birders watching a single male plying the trees for luncheon.

 I was astonished how hard it was to see him, what with his bright, flashy, colors and all. I can spot a tiny Downy at considerable distance, but I had to look hard to find this delightful bird.

The whole day was spectacular. Nice weather, decent light, with short periods of the throat catching kind that turns an ordinary landscape into a scene from a Hopper painting, and lots and lots of wonderful birds I only see at the refuge. 

Huge thanks to Kris for being kind enough to include me in her visits to this magical spot and for sharing my enthusiasm for birds, both rare and ordinary. Sure had a great time!

Here is a link to a recording I made of the cranes at the visitor's pool.