After visiting Chiricahua National Monument and hearing about the Sandhill Crane migration to Willcox between October and January, we decided to make a trip to Willcox to see and hear them.
About the Sandhill Cranes--
The Sandhill Crane diet is omnivorous. Major food items in their diet include insects, roots of aquatic plants, rodents, snails, frogs, lizards, snakes, nesting birds, berries, and seeds. They may also eat large quantities of cultivated grains when available.
With so many birds drawn to Willcox, there are excellent viewing opportunities. We found the best area to watch them was right in the middle of the day. There we saw and heard many thousands of the Sandhill Cranes that were both in and near the shallow water.
Sandhill Cranes are social creatures that move in flocks. They depart together when leaving their roost site to go forage for food. They also arrive together in flocks. Their departures and arrivals are quite noisy too! They have long windpipes that coil into the sternum and help produce a lower pitch and harmonics that add richness to their distinctive call. Their sound has to be heard to be believed!
It has been said that the best time of the day to view the Sandhill Cranes are in the early morning right at sunrise when they become very vocal and begin to fly from their roost site to forage or in the middle of the day or even around sunset when they begin to fly back to their roost site.
In the early morning, the birds shuffled up and down in the marsh waiting for the sun to crack the horizon. Once they had light, the cranes took flight by the hundreds or even thousands to surrounding fields somewhere far away to load up on a morning feed. They sure were vocal and ready to head out to forage for food. We enjoyed seeing and hearing the mass exodus!
When they fly in to roost, they stand in the shallow waters or very close to the water to evade predators.
What makes the cranes so special? 1--they are amongst the oldest living birds on the planet. 2-they mate for life and do not "divorce" unless the pair cannot produce young or colts as they are called. They generally only have only one baby each year. 3-and their life span is 20 years or more.
Between their unique sounds and 6 foot wingspans, it is quite an experience to see them as they fly in waves and to hear them!
It has been said that Sandhill Cranes are the biological B-52's.
In January of each year, a festival called Wings Over Willcox is held. To learn more about all the festival has to offer, you can visit www.wingsoverwillcox.com.
Rex Allen Museum
150 N Railroad Ave.
Willcox, AZ 85643
520-384-4583
www.rexallenmuseum.org
Closed Sunday and major holidays
Admission--$5.00/person--children under 10 and veterans free
Big Tex BBQ(The Dining Car)
130 E. Marley St.
Willcox, AZ 85643
520-384-4423
www.bigtexbbqaz.com
Hours
Monday-Thursday--11am-8 pm
Friday and Saturday--11am-9pm
Sunday--closed
Fried
107 E. Marley St.
Willcox, AZ 85643
520-766-2253
Saturday--10am-6pm
Sunday--11am-3pm
Monday & Tuesday--closed
Wednesday-Friday--10am-6pm
Dos Cabezas Coffee Co.
308 S. Haskell Ave.
Willcox, AZ 85643
520-766-6677
www.doscabezascoffeeco.com
Hours
Saturday-7am-4pm
Sunday-7am-3pm
Monday-closed
Tuesday-Friday-5:30am-6pm
Camera equipment--iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro
Sound equipment--DJI mikes
Негізгі бет Sandhill Cranes Over the Sand Willcox, AZ -- Dec 2023
Пікірлер