Going to the Books. Going to the Birds.
March 19, 2015
” . . . for a full and true appreciation, one must go to the books before going to the birds themselves.”
— Louis J. Halle, The Appreciation of Birds
In anticipation of my trip to Nebraska to see the sandhill crane migration, I did quite a bit of reading about these birds. Here are some of the books I liked:
- Cranes of the World by Paul A. Johnsgard
- The Poets Guide to the Birds edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser
- A Sand County Almanac by Also Leopold
- Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul
- The Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes by Peter Matthiessen
- The Migrations of Birds: Seasons on the Wing by Janice M. Hughes
- “The Nebraska Sandhills: The Flight of Cranes,” from The Necessity of Empty Places by Paul Gruchow
- Sandhill and Whooping Cranes: Ancient Voices over America’s Wetlands by Paul A. Johnsgard
I had seen my first sandhill crane in Homer, Alaska in 2008. I have been practicing painting sandhill cranes from the photos I took at that time.
I was thrilled to see a few more sandhill cranes on my recent trip to the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in British Columbia. They were right on a dike path, and we were able to get incredibly close. (I can’t imagine we will ever get that close to a wild sandhill crane in Nebraska. But we’ll see.)
The cranes in the Reifel sanctuary spent a lot of time grooming and preening. This is considered a comforting behavior. “Preening by cranes is a time-consuming activity that begins shortly after hatching and continues throughout life, especially during molting periods. Typically cranes preen a single region for up to about 20 seconds, then move to another area. Frequently the feather is nibbled at its base initially, and then the feather is gently drawn through the beak between the upper and lower mandibles.”
— Paul Johnsgard, ” Individualistic and Social Behavior,” Cranes of the World: 2, January 1983
All of my reading and past experiences seeing these magnificent birds have just whetted my curiosity for seeing hundreds of thousands of them in migration. I’ll keep you posted.
March 19, 2015 at 6:22 am
I love your paintings! And your photos! Beautiful!
March 19, 2015 at 6:30 am
I am hoping to see another one fly over this year!!!!
March 19, 2015 at 8:03 am
The Othello Sandhill Crane Festival is happening at Othello in E Washington March 27, 28, 29. These are the lesser Sandhills coming through from the Central Valley in CA on their way north to nest. They stop for a week or two to clean up corn and grains left in the farm fields and hang out around the wetlands of the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. The Festival offers bus tours and classes as well as two keynote speakers.
See othellosandhillcranefestival.org
March 19, 2015 at 12:01 pm
A friend fell in love with real ones she saw on a trip, then saw some life-sized “cut outs” on Amazon. She lives in the California Redwoods, where they would never appear, so she put the cutouts out in a field and when you realize you’ve been thoroughly fooled it is a laugh!
March 24, 2015 at 7:51 am
You have many talents! Watercolor painting & photography among them!
March 19, 2019 at 12:54 pm
Dear Rosemary, I’ve bookmarked your blog page and have enjoyed it almost daily since I ran into you at the Greenwood library and you were getting ready to depart to view the cranes in Nebraska in 2015. Don’t know why it’s taken me so long to thank you for the inspiration and happiness your images and observations have given me. Checking your daily postings is like a tonic for my being! I am grateful for the beauty that you share with us. By the way, today I am sitting in a 9th grade classroom, subbing at UPrep! Best wishes from your friend, Debbie Wheeler