Seeing a dusk fly-in of thousands of sandhill cranes is now possible at Woodbridge, Staten Island and Consumes River Ecological Reserves. This photo by Brigitte Clough, courtesy Lodi Sand Hill Crane Festival.
A fly-in of thousands of sandhill cranes at Woodbridge Ecological Reserve on Saturday evening portends more great things this weekend for the annual Sandhill Crane Festival in Lodi.
From 6 p.m. to dusk off Woodbridge Road, the cranes have been cascading across the sky in a mind-cracking scene, one of nature’s most spectacular events in California. The dusk sky can fill with the birds, with wingspans reaching 7 feet, cruising overhead while their cacophonous honks can carry for miles.
Despite an ancestry that extends to prehistoric eras, only 7,000 of the greater sandhill cranes remain, according to the state Department of Fish and Game. Most of the birds have migrated this fall from their summer nesting grounds in the Pacific Northwest, and as far away as the Arctic and Siberia, down to the San Joaquin Valley to Woodbridge, Staten Island and Cosumnes River Ecological Reserve, and other wetlands in the delta. In wet years, many continue south to Soda Lake in the Carrizo Plain.
The Sandhill Crane Festival, Friday through Sunday, features 48 tours, with bus transport to many locations. Admission to the festival is free.
Festival lowdown: Nov. 4-6, Hutchins Square, 125 S. Hutchins Street, Lodi; features exhibits, presentations, workshops, art show and wildlife tours; register for tours at cranefestival.com; (800) 581-6150.
For more of my outdoor stories in the San Francisco Chronicle, go to http://www.sfgate.com/outdoors.
Feel great in the next 24 hours: Hike. Bike. Camp. Fish. Boat. Wildlife watch. Explore.
For the new edition of California Camping, go to http://74.220.215.219/~tomstien/books/california-camping/
Leave A Comment