Arkansans seldom have a chance to see sandhill cranes, but this winter small groups of the large birds have dawdled here during their annual migration.
Sandhill cranes are large, 4 feet tall and with a wingspan of more than 6.6 feet.
They are stately, with long legs and necks. Their feathers are a silvery gray, and adults have a splash of deep crimson on their heads.
They take their name from the Sandhills of Nebraska, an area of dunes covering just over one quarter of the state and near which many of these cranes nest. The dunes were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1984.
Juvenile sandhill cranes grow quickly to the size of adults, and a flock of the birds seen during migration appear to be all about the same size. In flight they can be distinguished from other large wading birds, like the great blue heron, by the fact that they fly holding their necks straight out, whereas herons and egrets fly with their necks in a crook.
Each spring and fall, sandhill cranes fly along either side of Arkansas as they migrate between their nesting grounds in north Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan and the Arctic tundra, and wintering locations in Texas and Florida’s Gulf coasts.
Some experts have supposed that the Ozark Mountains are a natural barrier that splits the cranes into separate flyways, one following the Mississippi River toward Florida, the other leading to southern Texas.
It’s not unheard of for migrating sandhill cranes to pause in Arkansas for a few days before going on to their destination. But when the cranes are seen in Arkansas, it is usually as they fly high overhead or when they make such occasional, brief stops.
This year, what seems to be a family group of seven sandhills has lingered in central Arkansas for an uncharacteristic period of time. They appear to be wintering in farmland on Frazier Pike about 10 miles east of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field.
In mid-January they’d already been there more than a month.
Another group of five has been seen near Arkadelphia, on private land along the old gravel Reynolds Road east of the Alcoa plant. It’s possible this group comes through every year. Sandhill cranes also have been reported in Mississippi County near Birdsong.
(To see all the places they’ve been reported, people with Internet access can look at the eBird point and range map at ebird.org/ebird/map/ and type in “sandhill crane.”)
But according to Dan Scheiman, ornithologist for Audubon Arkansas, it’s not easy to spot them. “Sandhill cranes can be found in Arkansas in the winter annually, but they can be sporadic, hard to find, and harder to relocate. There have been very few instances where the same group of birds has been seen repeatedly by different people throughout the season.”
A few years ago, a group of cranes stayed near Arkadelphia for an extended time.
“Bird records generally indicate that the cranes only remain in one place for a day or two and then move away while in migration through Arkansas in November and February.”
There also may be a group of overwintering sandhills at Holla Bend Wildlife Management Area near Russellville, Scheiman says. The Holla Bend cranes were “first detected in early January, making this possibly the first time there have been two separate overwintering flocks in the same season,” Scheiman adds.
Bird records kept before 1986 are inconclusive on the number of sandhills and the frequency of their overwintering patterns in Arkansas.
Karen Rowe, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s non-game-bird specialist, said of the Frazier Pike group, “It is difficult to predict what is in a bird’s brain. This group of cranes has found a reliable food source; they are not being disturbed, and so they have what they need to make it through the winter.
“If anything changes, such as no more food, or disturbance by people, dogs or coyotes, then it is likely they will move on.”STALKERS
The leggy birds are relatively easy to see when they gather in a large field or pasture, though occasionally on cold and windy days they move into tall weeds and bushes to roost and sit down. On those days they are difficult to spot.
Consequently, although the bird-watching listserv ARBird-L has contained regular reports from birders who’ve seen the cranes, they also have been thought to have flown away - only to reappear on warm winter afternoons.
To reach the general area in Little Rock where they’ve been seen, drive east on Frazier Pike toward the Arkansas River. From the intersection of Frazier Pike and Slack Water Harbor Road (the name appears on the street sign but not on maps), follow Frazier Pike about five miles southeast. There you will see that Frazier goes over a levee to the river side, runs beside the river for 300 yards and then crosses the levee again.
The cranes have been seen most often just before and just after these levee crossings, most often behind a house and barns at 15300 Frazier Pike. Those structures are on private property.
I have driven Frazier Pike in an attempt to see them five times, but have spotted them only three times. Meanwhile, other birders reported them in the same general area - but not in exactly the same spot - two days in a row. On one of the occasions when I saw them, two dogs came out barking (at me, not the cranes) and that frightened the birds back into tall weeds.
I found them again about 20 minutes later as they stepped out into the open 100 yards away from where I had seen them disappear.
It is unusual to see sandhills in Arkansas, but they are not an endangered species like their close relative, the whooping crane. Authorities estimate about 450,000 sandhill cranes live in North America, and the population may be on the increase, even though two subspecies of the sandhill crane are in decline.
Cranes are a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, as are many native birds.
Jerry Butler welcomes stories and comments about Arkansas birds at
jerrysharon.[email protected]
Sandhill crane Grus canadensis◊Eats plants, insects, fish.
◊Nests on the ground.
◊Bugling call can be heard for miles.
◊Adults of both sexes are of similar size: 47.2 inches long with a 6.6-foot wingspan.
◊Adults typically weigh 7.5 to 10.8 pounds.
◊About the same size but bulkier than a great blue heron. Smaller than a whooping crane.
◊Fertility begins at 2 years old but may reach age 7 before breeding.
◊Mate for life and stay with their mates year-round.
◊Known to live 20 years and longer.
◊Seen in Arkansas during migration from November to February.
ActiveStyle, Pages 23 on 02/10/2014