The Crane Report

Martha Kennedy 16 Comments

It’s been an amazing fall out there at the Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge. I might want tons of snow, Bear might want tons of snow, the farmers definitely want tons of snow, but the transient cranes have found so much joy out there that they’re not leaving. I saw the first of the fall migration in August. There are still large number of them hanging out in their favorite spots.

Large flocks of winter birds are beginning to arrive, and yesterday when Bear and I headed out we found Canadian geese standing and lying on the nearly frozen pond. On the banks to the north, away from the road, hundreds of cranes chatted calmly among themselves. Another group hung out on the over grown back road to the Refuge buildings.

The big ditch is running high right now which means that the Refuge is able to fill all the ponds and channels before winter emerges, and it will.

I love snow so much and want it down here in the valley where I can “have” it easily, conveniently, without driving, but there is something to be said for an open winter under these vast blue skies. If I’d known back in 2014 how little it snows down here, I might have looked for another place to live, but as the whole adventure has proven so magical, I have a feeling that down the road ( ha ha ) I might be glad to be living in a desert.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/11/16/rdp-monday-emerge/

16 thoughts on “The Crane Report”

  1. Love that last line, Martha!

    “I might have looked for another place to live, but as the whole adventure has proven so magical, I have a feeling that down the road ( ha ha ) I might be glad to be living in a desert.”

    “The pEssimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails.” ~ William Arthur Ward

    Love that you adjust your sails Within, and then share your perspective from that here.

  2. I’d say this was a “grass is always greener” kind of post but I think it more appropriate to say “the snow is always deeper..” The Canada geese winter here in Northern Indiana nearly all winter. I think partly because there are enough rivers that don’t freeze to provide them a proper habitat. We are currently gaining geese to nearly the epic proportions of 4 years ago when the city had to do something about them – so many that the parks were unusable and there were reports of children being injured by the very aggressive nature of the birds. At the time they rounded up about 400 and they were humanely killed – they couldn’t relocate them at the time due to possibility of bird flu… Anyway I hope you and bear get the snow you crave.

    • thank you. Bear often says, wistfully, “I wish it would snow, Martha” and I say, “It will or it won’t, Bear.” And she says, “OK. That sounds good.” ❤

  3. I love the idea of the cranes on one side of the pond and the geese on the other, each having their own conversations! I hope you get enough snow to enjoy some skiing and for Bear to enjoy the snow as well, but it will be beautiful with snow on the mountains that surround your valley!

  4. I love the long-range view there: the mountain peaks in the distance. The cranes didn’t stay in our area very long at all this fall. Perhaps because it was so dry; all the sloughs where they normally hang out have dried up.

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