Sandhill Cranes

Nathaniel Stickman |

Each year, migratory species of sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis; previously Grus canadensis1) make an epic journey from the southern portions of North America, where the cranes spend their winters, to their summer grounds in the distant northwest.2 Some make their way to Alaska, while others travel as far as Siberia. Along the way, these sandhills stop to congregate — thousands at a time — along the Platte River in central Nebraska. Around 500,000 sandhill cranes meet there each year during the migration — 80% of the world’s crane population in this one place.3 Evidence suggests that the cranes' affinity for the area has endured for ages, too. Nine-million-year-old fossils found in the region resemble almost exactly the bone structure of modern sandhill cranes.4 Perhaps the gathering continues as a long-standing tradition or an ancient ritual for the sandhills, passed down through the ages.

Sandhill cranes generally wait to begin their long migratory flights on clear days and when they have a tailwind.5 Flying into Nebraska from the south, sandhills must travel at least 600 miles — and some flocks, especially when the winds are favorable, make the trip nonstop.4 Humans of antiquity admired cranes' flights, both in terms of the planning that went into them and the stamina they demonstrated. Likewise, legends attribute much wisdom to the cranes' shifting migratory formations, praising the cranes' adaptability and ingenuity in dealing with the troubles that can arise over such long flights.6 According to Greek myth, Palamedes invented several letters of the Greek alphabet by watching the mutable formations of cranes in flight.

Once gathered at the Platte River, sandhill cranes, being gregarious and festive, frequently break into dance together. As one pair of researchers puts it, “[w]hen one crane starts, others tend to join in."7 Here and there among the thousands gathered, a crane standing in a circle of friends and family will suddenly leap, full of energy and excitement; then, as often, another in the circle will join in with her own bounding enthusiasm. Elsewhere, two cranes, likely partners, will stand close, wings outstretched, dancing in a contagious rhythm. So contagious, in fact, that human observers across the world caught the rhythm watching cranes dance. Records from Australia, China, and Siberia and accounts from indigenous North American societies show humans mimicking crane dances in ceremonies as varied as celebratory dance festivals and funeral processions.6 8 Sandhills' dances likely have a variety of cultural meanings for the cranes, but as often the dances are outlets of exuberant playfulness — a sandhill grabs a twig, springs into the air, and tosses it at a nearby friend before bounding away.5 7

Much like at human gatherings, from the crowds of sandhill cranes at the Platte River comes a constant murmuring of conversations — intimate conversations, boisterous calls across the crowd, and all manner between. While cranes often roost and socialize in large flocks, the core of cranes' lives are their close family relationships and the intimate conversations that maintain their bonds.8 Cranes' purring calls play an especially important role for the family in flight: amid the confusion of a flock ambling into the air, families persistently call to each other to stay united.5 Perhaps cranes' most important relationship is, however, the couple’s. Cranes tend to mate for life, and, like humans, must put in the effort to cultivate healthy long-term relationships.4 As such, cranes couples routinely reinforce their commitments through a synchronized singing ritual, consisting of a rhythmic dance in which the couple alternates movements and a “unison calling” song in which each partner plays a specific part.5

The vast groups of migratory sandhill cranes who gather at the Platte River contrast their non-migratory cousins living in small enclaves in Cuba, Florida, and Mississippi.9 While, other than migratory behaviors, the different sandhill species have similar cultures, the non-migratory species have had a more difficult time adjusting to the rapid expansion of human habitats. Both the Cuban and Mississippi sandhill populations are critically endangered. The Mississippi species used to spread over the plains of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, but years of city-building decreased their living spaces until, in 1975, conservationists estimated that only 35 Mississippi sandhills remained in the wild, relegated to a small area in southern Mississippi.10

Since then, however, diligent conservation efforts have boosted the Mississippi sandhills' numbers. The Audubon Nature Institute and White Oak have continued to work to strengthen and stabilize the Mississippi sandhill population; so far, they have helped to raise the current estimate to 130 wild Mississippi sandhills.

On another front, however, the migratory sandhills may be facing a challenge of their own. In the US, the Migratory Bird Act — enacted in 1918 in response to the endangerment of sandhill cranes among other migratory birds in North America — has been on slippery ground in recent years.11 12 Previously, the Migratory Bird Act held companies accountable for the incidental death of migratory birds; under the act, BP pleaded guilty for the deaths caused by the 2010 Deep Horizon oil spill and agreed to a fine of $100 million.13 However, the current administration has put forward a reinterpretation of the act that would remove liability for unintentional harm to migratory birds. Such a reinterpretation would cease to hold companies responsible for the suffering or deaths of migratory birds caused incidentally by the companies' practices; companies would be liable only if their practices intentionally caused harm. The reinterpretation is currently open to public comment, until March 19. Concerned US citizens can comment on the proposed rule here.

In ancient Thessaly, killing cranes was apparently forbidden; people believed that the cranes fed on snakes and that, without the cranes regulating the snake population, humans would find the country uninhabitable.6 While a literal snake infestation is not a likely outcome today, the ancient Thessalians' reticence to harm cranes should remind us to respect cranes and the integrity of the broader world we share with them.

The splash image is Dori, Sandhill Cranes in Flight, September 12, 2009, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sandhill_Cranes_in_flight_7960.jpg. It is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

  1. Carey Krajewski, Justin T. Sipiorski, and Frank E. Anderson, “Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequences and the Phylogeny of Cranes (Gruiformes: Gruidae),”, The Auk 127, no. 2 (April 2010): 440–452, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277486138_Complete_Mitochondrial_Genome_Sequences_and_the_Phylogeny_of_Cranes_Gruiformes_Gruidae. ↩︎

  2. Paul A. Johnsgard, “Sandhill Crane (Grus Canadensis),” in Cranes of the World (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983), 170–183, https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=bioscicranes. ↩︎

  3. Alex Shoumatoff, “500,000 Cranes Are Headed for Nebraska in One of Earth’s Greatest Migrations,” Smithsonian Magazine, March 2014, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/500000-cranes-are-headed-nebraska-one-earths-greatest-migrations-180949816/?all ↩︎

  4. Paul A. Johnsgard, “Seasons of the Sandhill Crane: A Sandhills Spring,” in A Great Plains Reader, eds. Diane D. Quantic and P. Jane Hafen (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), 82-87. ↩︎

  5. Paul A. Johnsgard, “Crane Music,” NEBRASKALand 79, no. 2 (March 1992): 10, https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=johnsgard. ↩︎

  6. Paul A. Johnsgard, “Cranes in Myth and Legend,” in Cranes of the World (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983), 70–74, https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=bioscicranes ↩︎

  7. Nerissa Russell and Kevin J. McGowan, “Dance of the cranes: Crane Symbolism at Çatalhöyük and Beyond,” Antiquity 77, no. 297 (2003): 445-455, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00092516. ↩︎

  8. B. D. Gerber, J. F. Dwyer, S. A. Nesbitt, R. C. Drewien, C. D. Littlefield, T. C. Tacha, and P. A. Vohs, “Sandhill Crane,” Birds of North America, August 17, 2014, https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/031/articles/introduction. ↩︎

  9. “Sandhill Crane,” The National Wildlife Federation, accessed February 17, 2020, https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Birds/Sandhill-Crane. ↩︎

  10. “Recovering Mississippi Sandhill Cranes,” Audubon Nature Institute, accessed February 17, 2020, https://audubonnatureinstitute.org/conservation-programs/mississippi-sandhill-cranes. ↩︎

  11. Laurel Wamsley, “Accidentally Killing Birds Isn’t A Crime, Says Trump Administration,” NPR, December 27, 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/27/573845851/accidentally-killing-birds-isnt-a-crime-says-trump-administration. ↩︎

  12. Alexandra Kelley, “Trump administration proposes rollbacks in protections for migratory birds,” The Hill, February 3, 2020, https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/environment/481200-the-trump-administration-looks-to-reduce. ↩︎

  13. “BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Settlement Funds Migrate North,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, April 27, 2015, https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ID=FC61EB52-BF8A-45AA-C04D802711C4EF55. ↩︎