Sandhills and Wind Mills

Over spring break, as some of you may know, I went to Yellowstone National Park. While the park was amazing and an experience that I will never forget, one of my favorite parts of the trip happened a couple of states away in Nebraska. The last day we left Montana so that we could get to Kearney at sunrise. Kearney is on the Platte River and is a very important to a specie of birds. Every year hundreds-of-thousands of sandhill cranes, 80% of the total population, gather on the Platte River on their migration north They were calling constantly; the air was filled with noise. Massive flocks of 4-5 foot birds flew over head, it was amazing. Unfortunately we did not arrive in time to see them dance before they took, off but it was still awesome. Thanks to Dr. Mike Rentz and Dr. Cassandra Nuñez I was able to have this experience and thanks to Dr. Stephen Dinsmore I was awe-inspired. I spent a lot of time looking at the cranes and taking pictures, just ask my fellow students who waited on Dr. Nuñez and I. Seeing the sandhill cranes fly above as pairs or in massive flocks and watching them eat in the corn fields was something I will never forget and something I will definitely go see again.

Sandhill cranes are one of the largest species of birds in North America, with a wingspan over 5 feet wide. They are usually have gray plumage but will rub red dirt into their feathers and gain a reddish hue. They also have a red forehead and white cheeks. Sandhill cranes will eat whatever is available, from plant matter to invertebrates and small mammals. There are six subspecies of sandhill cranes and they live as far south as Cuba and all the way up to eastern Siberia. Sandhill cranes are also possibly one of the oldest still living specie of bird with a fossil in Nebraska found that is an estimated 2.6-5.3 million year old. Sandhill cranes can live up to twenty years and will mate for life.

Many believe that windmills hurt birds, but a recent United State Geological Survey paper tells the opposite. Sandhill cranes over-winter in the central and southern Great Plains, an area that contains many wind turbines. The USGS looked at sites where the cranes wintered in the past and current sites of wind turbines. They tracked some cranes using GPS to monitor their locations. They found that there may be some slight evidence of tagged cranes avoiding windmills when they tended to avoid areas with windmills. They countered that this may be due to location of suitable habitats rather than avoiding the turbines. The major finding was that the past winter range of the sandhill cranes only overlapped the current areas with windmills by 7%. This number is low and means that the turbines are not directly affecting the cranes. A major threat to sandhill cranes is removal of suitable habitat, namely wetland. Wetland preservation is what is important to help this species.

Sandhill cranes are amazing animals and are a fantastic sight that I hope everyone gets the chance to observe.

Articles

Cranes vs Windmills

USGS Crane Study

Sandhill Cranes

Saving Cranes

Picture

All by Justin Hohlen