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Daily Bucket - Chasing Down the Sandhill Cranes at Woodbridge [1]

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Date: 2025-01-04

I had no luck in seeing Sandhill Cranes last fall. They weren’t at any at their usual haunts when I visited Cosumnes River Preserve nor did I see them as I usually did foraging next to the cattle in pastures along I-5.

I thought the Woodbridge Ecological Preserve during the Sandhill Crane season would be a sure thing. So when I finally had a chance to drive down just after the New Year, I expected to see the usual flock of cranes. When I arrived there were a half dozen folks waiting for the cranes but there were no cranes in the ponds.

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We heard an enormous amount of cranes calling and thought they were going to land but they flew right over us.

Leading edge of a large flock of cranes that flew right over the reserve and continued south.

We were very disappointed and 3 people decided to leave and see if they could see any cranes outside the reserve.

As the rest of us waited for sunset, there were a number of other birds flitting around.

Golden-Crowned Sparrow — one of approximately 2 dozen sparrows on site

Northern Mockingbird

Snowy Egret

Ducks on the far side of the pond. Based on the silhouette, I’d say they’re pintails.

The setting sun gave this CA Towhee an overall red blush.

I also saw a couple of hunters:

A Harrier flies low over the landscape seeking a late dinner

A coyote jumps on potential prey.

Unsuccessful, he turned and looked straight at me before disappearing into the brush.

The other birders came back and told us that some cranes could be found in ponds further down the road about a mile from the reserve.

“Ya just can’t keep us down on the reserve.” Sandhill Cranes forage in a pond on private land.

There were more birds on a couple of other ponds:

A trio of Tundra Swans swim past Pintail ducks and White-Fronted Geese resting on a berm.

I’ll end with a sequence of Sandhill Cranes coming in for a landing:

Dropping in altitude

Lowering the landing gear

Final circle looking for a landing spot

Successful splashdown

As the sun turned the water into fiery yellows, oranges and reds, I packed up my lens and headed home.

Sunset reflections

We had some rain earlier in the week but Thursday was really nice weather. Valley rain and mountain snow came back in a steady beat for most of Friday.

Now it looks like we’ll be having a week of nice weather with the high temps in the 60s.

What’s up in your neck of the woods?

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