Late Crane
Several hundred sandhill cranes spend the winter in our pasture and the fields around us. It’s one of the wonderful things about living in this part of New Mexico. These magnificent birds arrive in October and stay until early March, when they gather up in flocks of thousands and head north for the summer.
This year, the flocks stayed around until late March, with a good number of them still here in April. As late as last week, we still saw five in our pasture.
On Sunday, May 10, there was still one lone juvenile crane digging for food in our just irrigated pasture.
Will he stay here all summer? Can he stand our heat? Is it possible for him to fly north without the aid of his flock? Why didn’t he go with them?
See more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/BastaRanch/LateCrane
