{"id":1487,"date":"2016-02-29T09:07:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T15:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2016-02-29T09:16:32","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T15:16:32","slug":"first-day-sightings-of-sandhill-cranes-along-pool-8-since-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/first-day-sightings-of-sandhill-cranes-along-pool-8-since-1987\/","title":{"rendered":"“First Day” Sightings of Sandhill Cranes along Pool 8, Since 1987"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our farm lies perched above a broad wetland valley. Back in the mid-80s I heard something we had never heard before, the unison calls of\u00a0a\u00a0pair of nesting sandhill cranes. When it was verified by our local conservation warden and by the University of Wisconsin, we could claim to have reported the first nesting pair of sandhill cranes in the La Crosse area\u00a0in a very long time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Since then, our neighborhood has maintain a spring “Crane Watch.” \u00a0\u00a0Some of those dates and comments appear below. For more recent years, please use the SEARCH<\/strong> button to \"\"see stories about the cranes! The quote at the end of this piece is one of my favorites from Aldo Leopold.<\/p>\n

3\/2\/2011 “Eight Sandhill Cranes<\/a> arrived TODAY, making their earliest arrival in our records. Ground is still frozen with several inches of crusty snow.\u00a0”<\/p>\n

March 15, 2009\u00a0 “Bitter cold night as late as 03\/13\/09. So cranes waited until we hit the 50 degree mark two days later.<\/span><\/i>“<\/center>
<\/center>

\nMarch 12, 2008\u00a0“<\/span>3 Sandhill cranes fly over Goose Island near La Crosse.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i><\/center>March 13, 2008\u00a0 A Single crane flies, calling, over Coon Creek near Stoddard.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lots of melting snow in the valley. Temp\u00a0of 56.7 degrees.\u00a0”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\nMarch 11, 2007 “Sandhill Cranes on the islands off Goose Island Park south of La Crosse. Temps in upper 40s, two weeks after record snowfalls in Western Wisconsin, so lots of snow on the ground. March 12 the cranes are reported along Coon Creek and other valleys off the Upper Mississippi River.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/i><\/center>
<\/center>

\nFeb 23, 2005\u00a0 (a good two weeks earlier than normal!)
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>March 15, 2003
\n<\/i>March 13, 2002
\nMarch 13, 2001<\/i>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 March 16, 1999<\/em>
\n March 1, 1998<\/em>
\n March 10, 1997<\/em>
\n March 13, 1996<\/em>
\n March 18, 1993<\/em>
\n April 4, 1992<\/em>
\n March 9, 1988<\/em>
\n<\/span>March 17, 1987<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/center>
<\/center><\/center><\/p>\n

Excerpt from <\/span>A Sand County Almanac <\/span><\/i>by Aldo Leopold<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

“The sadness discernible in some marshes arises, perhaps in their once having harbored cranes. Now they stand humbled, adrift in history.<\/p>\n

“Someday, perhaps in the very process of our benefactions, perhaps in the fullness of geologic time, the last crane will trumpet his farewell and spiral skyward from the great marsh.<\/p>\n

“High out of the clouds will fall the sound of hunting horns, the baying of the phantom pack, the tinkle of little bells, and then a silence never to be broken, unless perchance in some far away pasture of the milky way.”<\/p>\n

–Aldo Leopold, Marshland Elegy<\/span><\/p>\n

\"cranefamily\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our farm lies perched above a broad wetland valley. Back in the mid-80s I heard something we had never heard before, the unison calls of\u00a0a\u00a0pair of nesting sandhill cranes. When it was verified by our local conservation warden and by … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birding","category-upper-mississippi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}