Althouse: At the end of my sunrise run this morning, I encounter sandhill cranes in my path.

November 5, 2021

At the end of my sunrise run this morning, I encounter sandhill cranes in my path.

31 comments:

CJinPA said...: Kind of lovely. Interesting that their heads have to jut forward with every step. You'd think evolution would have tamed that locomotion characteristic. Unless there's a reason for it.; 11/5/21, 11:33 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Interesting that their heads have to jut forward with every step. "

Ha ha. Meade and I were noticing that and saying how if a human being did that, they'd be considered very dorky, but the birds have no idea how they look.; 11/5/21, 11:39 AM
Humperdink said...: "Protesters surrounded Joe Manchin's Maserati...." Maserati??

Is it just me or this not a good look Joe Manchin (D-West "By Golly" Virginia)?

Wondering how many Maserati dealerships are in WV.

"Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads"; 11/5/21, 11:41 AM
cubanbob said...: Lovely. Personally I would have sat on the bench and enjoyed watching them and the lake.; 11/5/21, 11:45 AM
Dave Begley said...: When Ann and Meade visit Nebraska in March, you'll be astounded at the number of cranes and the sound they make. Prehistoric.; 11/5/21, 11:45 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: "Interesting that their heads have to jut forward with every step. "

Sandhill cranes have eyes that look to either side for maximum field of view protection against predators. This side-view doesn't give them stereoscopic vision and depth perception, so they move their heads back and forth to generate depth perception.; 11/5/21, 11:53 AM
DanTheMan said...: I love sandhill cranes, they are delicious!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUppW389kww; 11/5/21, 11:57 AM
rcocean said...: The Cranes are watching - closely.

These ones are much smarter then the ones I run into. My cranes, just walk down the path ahead of me. Then when i get closer they fly/walk a little farther down. They they see I'm still coming, they do the same thing. Finally, after a while, they figure it out and walk/ fly to the side. What bird brains.; 11/5/21, 12:01 PM
TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...: Mmmmmmm. Ribeye of the sky. Can't wait till WI opens a season on them.; 11/5/21, 12:03 PM
gilbar said...: mmmm those are Good Eating!!!; 11/5/21, 12:06 PM
robother said...: Birds are evolved around flight, unlike humans. Superman is the exception that proves the rule, since he was kind of dorky when not in flying mode.; 11/5/21, 12:48 PM
dbp said...: I wouldn't get too close to them. That beak, combined with their rapid stabbing motion, could likely cause mortal harm.; 11/5/21, 1:02 PM
tim in vermont said...: They are all over the place by my Florida redoubt, "The Southern Command" as Rush might have termed it, and they seem dumb as the dirt they spend so much time with their beaks buried in, looking for grubs, I guess.; 11/5/21, 1:29 PM
tim in vermont said...: "if a human being did that, they'd be considered very dorky,"

There was a character in Michner's "The Source" who did that. He was a nerd who lived to design buildings, IIRC. Now that I think about it, it was kind of ridiculous, like some kind of comic dance step.; 11/5/21, 1:32 PM
Big Mike said...: Such beautiful, stately birds.; 11/5/21, 1:38 PM
Temujin said...: Cranes can be aggressive if they feel threatened. Clearly they did not feel threatened by you. Often, they're in couples. If you have a +1 it's probably an offspring or...a widower. But they'll group into larger numbers in certain migratory areas. Speaking of which, those guys in your video should be packing up to head to our neck of the woods in Florida very soon.

They hang around our neighborhood regularly. And as Dave Begley noted above, they make a blaring prehistoric squawk that can be heard for a couple of miles. It's alarming the first time you hear it. I was thinking we had pterodactyls here when I first moved in. When they're flying into our neighborhood, our dog goes nuts seeing and hearing them as they drop down low. Then...when walking through the neighborhood and encountering them, she doesn't quite know what to make of them. She's short. They're large. And their wingspan is pretty big. She runs by and yelps after she's passed them. They ignore her. If someone leaves their garage door open, they might find a crane nosing around inside.; 11/5/21, 2:10 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Awesome!!!!!; 11/5/21, 2:12 PM
Rockport Conservative said...: My nephew shot, and my sister cooked one many years ago near Houston. I don't know if there is still a season in that area or not.

We can drive around and see the sandhills in the fallow fields, farm yards, among grazing cattle here in S Texas. They are not afraid of people it seems. I lived next to the Aransas Refuge for 20 years and got to hear the sound of the whooping cranes when they were in their southern home.

I heard some sandhills flying over while drinking my morning coffee earlier this week. It is always a welcome sound to me. They have a musical chortle, the whoopers have a true whoop. I had a Yorkie who learned which whoop meant they were going to take off and fly over our house, she would look up at the sky and I knew she was watching for them.

We had a very good, long departed, friend who was a crane specialists. A very interesting work. We love those big birds. It's true those are dangerous beaks. They have killed a man in the Mississippi crane refuge.
I don't know if links are allowed but here is one honoring our friend.
https://www.fws.gov/refuges/about/ConservationHeroes/jakeValentine_07192012.html; 11/5/21, 3:19 PM
Bill Crawford said...: Frasier, Marty, and Niles.; 11/5/21, 3:40 PM
Mark Sundstrom said...: It would be nice to live in a place where I see Sandhill Cranes as often as you do.
(chickadee sounds in the background at the beginning of the video).
Enjoying the sunrise pics as always, thank you.
--Mark; 11/5/21, 4:11 PM
FullMoon said...: Reminds me of Ellen DeGeneras joke from before she was gay and famous about seeing baby deer on the road:

"Awww, the things you see when you don't have your gun"; 11/5/21, 4:51 PM
RMc said...: "Sandhill Cranes At Dawn" sounds like a great lost British WW1 movie.; 11/5/21, 4:57 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Sandhill cranes are fine, I guess. But why is Althouse not going anywhere near the Aaron Rogers covid story? #inquiringmindswanttoknow.; 11/5/21, 5:00 PM
StephenFearby said...: Assuming this is also a cafe, I'm unable to resist offering a rebuttal to this bit of new Fake News clickbait.

Fake News like this travels fast.

Daily Mail
UPDATED: 16:38 EDT, 5 November 2021

Trump outrageously suggests 'nutjob' Alec Baldwin INTENTIONALLY loaded gun that killed Rust crewmember and says he's a 'troubled guy' who shouldn't get into fistfights with reporters

Former President Donald Trump outrageously suggested 'nutjob' Alec Baldwin intentionally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust set

Trump spoke by phone with radio show host Chris Stigall on Thursday

Stigall asked Trump his thoughts on the shooting

'In my opinion, he had something to do with it,' Trump said of Baldwin

[No shit, Dick Tracy]

'Who would take a gun and point it at a cinematographer and pull the trigger?' Trump asked.

'The ex-president said he believed Baldwin could be responsible because he's a 'troubled guy' and a 'nutjob'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10170037/Trump-outrageously-floats-nutjob-Alec-Baldwin-INTENTIONALLY-shot-Rust-crewmember.html#comments

After reading the full article, there's NOTHING in it to support the assertions that Trump believes Baldwin intentionally loaded the gun or intentionally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Therefore, it seems to be only clickbait authored by a DM headline writer who either dislikes Trump or is a complete idiot.; 11/5/21, 6:15 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Cranes can be aggressive if they feel threatened. Clearly they did not feel threatened by you."

I'm never very close to them, actually. I specifically try not to bother them.

But I have noticed that the cranes along the lakeshore here are very used to people being near them. And they have a method that you can see in the video. One stands and watches the human intently and the others go one picking in the dirt for foood.; 11/5/21, 6:23 PM
Lurker21 said...: Sandhill Crane was Frasier's effete brother, wasn't he?; 11/5/21, 6:26 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: DanTheMan... I agree, Sandhill Cranes taste a lot like Bald Eagles!; 11/5/21, 6:36 PM
Merny11 said...: Live in NE Wi. Cranes have taken over our farm fields and are damaging as much as 20% of the crop. What was a novelty has become a nuisance; 11/5/21, 7:50 PM
tim in vermont said...: "They have killed a man in the Mississippi crane refuge."

Like Althouse, I see cranes often on my walks, when I am in Florida, anyway. If a guy got killed by one, he deserved it, is all I can think. They are completely non aggressive, he must have walked right up to one. Seeing them walking around a lot kind of takes away their beauty, but seeing them fly overhead is still pretty awe inspiring, and makes me want to go out west to see a large flock in flight, someday. I kind of took the watchful behavior of one crane, which the other one eats, as "mate guarding," like the cardinals do.

I am not against hunting, but I can't imagine shooting one. Ducks, sure, rabbits, I have done that myself, deer, absolutely, bring the population down, but snow geese and sandhill cranes are two birds commonly hunted that I just don't get why people would want to shoot them. Then again, my golf buddies roll their eyes when I stop for a minute to watch a meadowlark or bob-o-link sporting about over in the tall grass on a beautiful summer afternoon.; 11/6/21, 5:45 AM
tim in vermont said...: "Cranes have taken over our farm fields and are damaging as much as 20% of the crop. What was a novelty has become a nuisance"

Maybe that hunting season in Wisconsin is not that far off then!; 11/6/21, 5:52 AM
gilbar said...: tiv says... i can't imagine shooting one

Hello?? do you know what the phrase Yummmy means?; 11/6/21, 7:53 AM