Birds of the Western Slope March 13, 2013
Eckert Crane Days
March 15-17
It's that time of year again — Eckert Crane Days. From Friday, March 15, through Sunday, March 17, there will be members of the Black Canyon Audubon Society on the causeway at Fruit Growers Reservoir from 9 to 11 a.m.
Everyone is welcome! Each evening I check the number of cranes at the reservoir and leave that message information on my phone (835-8391).
On March 15, viewing begins at 9 a.m. We'll break for lunch about 11 a.m.
The Wildfire Pizzeria and Wine Bar on the golf course in Cedaredge will be offering lunch for birders. Then at 12:45 p.m., we'll move to the Presbyterian Church in Eckert. It displays some lovely stone work and is celebrating its 100th birthday. The ladies of the church will provide coffee and pie as a fund raiser. The church is the setting for my presentation at 1 p.m. At the Yampa Valley Crane Festival last September we viewed a video entitled "Raising Kid Colt." A young crane, with its long legs and neck, is called a "colt." This video was created by Nina Faust in Homer, Alaska, of cranes that nested in their yard!
In our area if someone says "crane," our minds think Hart's Basin and these birds are a subspecies of the American Sandhill Crane. Ours are known as Greater (Grus Canadensis tabida) and they number about 20,000. But the Lesser Sandhills (Grus Canadensis canadensis) were the first ones to be scientifically labeled and they number over 500,000! The models shown (I copied it from my third book) compare the three cranes of our continent: the Whooper at five feet tall, the Greater at four feet tall and the Lesser at over three feet tall. The birds in the video are Lessers and I'll discuss their migration during my presentation. On Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17, viewing on the causeway will be from 9 a.m. until the cranes take off.
Hope to see you there.
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