Species Profile: Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane. Photo by Sheldon Goldstein, Audubon Photography Awards.

By Steve Phenicie
Sandhill Cranes are like NBA basketball players and NFL linemen – they’re big guys, among the largest birds found in Georgia. They stand three and half to four feet tall, have a wingspan of six to seven feet and weigh seven to 10 pounds. Although bulkier than a Great Blue Heron, they’re about the same size.

Within the last few decades, Sandhills have greatly expanded their nesting range and numbers in the upper Midwest but are still vulnerable to habitat loss. They reach their peak abundance at migratory stopover points on the Great Plains. The early spring gathering on the Platte River in Nebraska is among the greatest wildlife spectacles on the continent, with more than a quarter of a million birds present at once, emitting their loud, rolling, trumpeting sound.
 
This fall you may soon see them cruising around the Georgia sky – if you haven’t already – on their way to wintering grounds in Florida. Depending on conditions, some don’t go that far. Thousands gather at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge on the Tennessee River near Birchwood, Tenn., and sometimes a few show up during Atlanta’s Christmas Bird Count. Other spots you might see them are the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area at Valdosta, and Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge along the Chattahoochee River between Georgia and Alabama. By contrast, some populations in Mississippi, Florida, and Cuba do not migrate.
 
These birds have a long neck, long, black legs, and a short tail covered by drooping feathers that form a “bustle.” The bill is longer than their small head. Sandhills are slate gray, often with a rusty wash on the upperparts. Adults have a pale cheek and red skin on the crown. Juveniles are gray and rusty brown, without the pale cheek or red crown.
Their diet varies widely with location and season. It includes insects, roots of aquatic plants, rodents, snails, frogs, lizards, snakes, nestling birds, berries, and seeds. They may eat lots of cultivated grain if they can get it.
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Their habitat varies too, but they usually nest among marshy vegetation in water up to three feet deep, although sometimes on dry ground close to water. The nest, built by both sexes, consists of a mound of plant material. It may be built up from the bottom or may be floating, anchored to standing plants. The female usually lays two eggs but sometimes one or three. Chicks can leave the nest within eight hours of hatching and are even capable of swimming. They stay close to their parents for nine or 10 months.
Some cool facts about Sandhills:

• They did not winter in Tennessee before the 1990s.
• They are known for their dancing. Courting cranes stretch their wings, pump their heads, bow, and leap into the air in a graceful and energetic dance.
• Although some breed at 2 years of age, they may be as old as 7. They mate for life – two decades or more – and stay with their mates year-round.
• The earliest Sandhill fossil, estimated to be 2.5 million years old, was found in Florida.
• The oldest Sandhill on record was at least 37 years, 3 months old. Banded in Florida in 1982, it was found in Wisconsin in 2019.