Althouse: Sandhill cranes on the Lower Yahara River Trail.

August 27, 2017

Sandhill cranes on the Lower Yahara River Trail.

Look closely and listen for the sound.

The Lower Yahara River Trail just opened today, and it's kind of a big deal around here.

20 comments:

The Godfather said...: It looked like a Yeti to me. And if you spread that news around you'll get a lot more press than with a sandhill crane.; 8/27/17, 4:38 PM
Heywood Rice said...: Beware, the cranes are not what they seem.; 8/27/17, 4:42 PM
Darrell said...: Biggest cranes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rC23KUMTyM; 8/27/17, 5:02 PM
MikeD said...: $8 million for a 2.5 mile "path"? No wonder we can't have nice things!; 8/27/17, 5:20 PM
Darrell said...: Almost as impressive as Meade's bike trail.; 8/27/17, 5:23 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "$8 million for a 2.5 mile "path"?"

I agree it's crazy, but consider that a big section of it is boardwalk across a river, basically a long bike bridge.; 8/27/17, 5:23 PM
FleetUSA said...: The cranes seem to be part of an Hiroshima eye test.; 8/27/17, 6:31 PM
Michael said...: I was quail hunting in west Texas when I learned that it was legal to shoot the Sandhill Crane. I was surprised but the guy running our dogs said "there are two hundred thousand of the goddamn things" . As it happened it would be difficult to shoot one. You could see them coming from miles, flying quite low. But just out of gun range they lofted upwards until they would be an impossible shot as they passed over. Then they glided down again. They had an uncanny sense of human presence.; 8/27/17, 7:03 PM
Kylos said...: A sandhill crane attracted to his reflection in my car and started attacking it. Video; 8/27/17, 7:05 PM
Matt said...: We have a mob of these that live around my office in Heathrow FL. They understand parking lot etiquette surprisingly well.; 8/27/17, 7:26 PM
Megaera said...: The Tampa Bay area must be part of their flyway -- I used to see them around my parents' home there in fall and spring. Amazingly large, with great physical presence.; 8/27/17, 7:43 PM
Carter Wood said...: Sandhill Crane hunting season opens on September 16 in North Dakota. Game and Fish warns: Do not confuse them with whooping cranes.

Whooping cranes travel interspersed with the sandhill. They are taller and black and white, not gray like the sandhill cranes.; 8/27/17, 8:20 PM
Jaq said...: It looked like a Yeti to me. And if you spread that news around you'll get a lot more press than with a sandhill crane.

Go with ivory billed woodpecker if you want the moneyed crowed swarming in.; 8/27/17, 8:49 PM
jimbino said...: I ask Ann again: How do you justify all this public largess in favor of public facilities whose promotional photos never show a Black, Brown or Red face? White country clubs supported by the public tax dollar by now are surely passé.; 8/27/17, 9:04 PM
jimbino said...: And I ask Ann: Have you recently googled "Racist Wisconsin" or "Racist Madison"?; 8/27/17, 9:09 PM
Curious George said...: "jimbino said...
I ask Ann again: How do you justify all this public largess in favor of public facilities whose promotional photos never show a Black, Brown or Red face? White country clubs supported by the public tax dollar by now are surely passé."

It's fucking free to everyone. Idiot.; 8/28/17, 12:41 AM
Unknown said...: > just opened today

In a splurt of pleonasm, the superfluous little devil "just"

just snuck into her sentence.; 8/28/17, 4:51 AM
Expat(ish) said...: AFAIK it is not legal to shoot sandhill cranes n FL, otherwise there are sections of upper central SWF that would be absolutely awash in feathers.

I went kayaking near the Peace River up Charlotte Harbor a few years ago and there were so many I had to slow to 5mph to let them get out of the road. They must poop up people's yards quite a bit.

My dog would have to be sedated before he barked himself to death.

Pretty birds tho.

-XC; 8/28/17, 6:52 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "It's fucking free to everyone. Idiot."

False.

It's free if you walk, but to bike it -- and it's basically a bike path -- you need to buy a pass (that's about $30) a year.

And by the way, the federal government paid for most of it. As the article says near the end: "Dane County paid for about $3.7 million of the project, with the federal government covering the rest." You have to search back to the beginning to find the total cost, which is $8 million. So the feds gave us $4.3 million for this thing. Think about that. But people who live in McFarland now have a bike route into Madison. There are about 8,000 people who live in McFarland. How many do you think work in Madison and will use bikes to get to Madison? Think about how this thing was pitched to the feds who were just handing out money for bike bridges. It was lunacy. But we have some really lovely "Obama bridges" in Madison.; 8/28/17, 8:12 AM
MadisonMan said...: There are about 8,000 people who live in McFarland. How many do you think work in Madison and will use bikes to get to Madison?

In the winter? 1 or 2. in the summer? Maybe 100. Is that worth $8M? No.; 8/28/17, 9:56 AM