Sandhill cranes in the rainforest: a photojournal

Two Sandhill cranes foraging along the beach. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2008.

Sandhill Cranes in the Rainforest

Sandhill cranes are familiar to most people as terrestrial wading birds of fields and wetlands. But residents and visitors to the central and north coasts of B.C. know another side to these adaptable birds. They can be spotted in pairs or small groups foraging in the intertidal zone from April to September. Their resonant calls are heard from overhead while they fly between beach foraging areas and bogs on adjacent islands.

Through this project, we’ve found breeding cranes on several outer and inner coastal islands north of Vancouver Island all the way to Porcher Island, near the Alaskan border. The cranes we’ve studied on the central coast appear to have breeding territories consisting of a complex of estuarine and beach habitats for foraging, old-growth fringe forest for cover, upland bogs where they roost and nest, and other wetlands for forage. These territories are spread throughout the coastal archipelago where these habitats coincide. Cranes on the central and north coast are believed to belong to the subspecies rowani, and to overwinter in California’s Central Valley and in the lower Columbia River area¹.

Cranes are monogamous breeders and are held as symbols of loyalty in many cultures. However they can take between 2 and 7 years to mature, and during the “teenage” years they hang out in pairs (probably dating!), and in groups with other non-breeders during the breeding season. Here they are feeding on small mussels, periwinkles, and other critters that live amongst the rockweed and pebbles. Cranes are omnivorous and feed on plants and berries as well as small creatures. Photo: Ingmar Lee, 2007.

I was watching these cranes feeding on the beach for some time from a natural blind one hot afternoon. They made their way slowly along the beach, foraging as they went, and then moved up into the forest edge where they rested and preened for an hour and a half before coming back down to the beach and finally taking off. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2007.

This deer came trotting out of the forest and found itself amongst a group of cranes. They fluttered their wings and called out angrily until the deer went back into the woods. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2007.

These cranes are feeding on salty greens, or on insects in the soil and gravel above the high tide line, at Higgins Pass. One crane acts as sentry while the others feed. Photo: Linda Mueller, 2008.

During nesting time, we often see one member of a breeding pair foraging on the beach near to the nest in the daytime. When approached on the shore, the crane will often guard the head of a trail leading up to the nest bog. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2008.

A nesting sandhill crane. On the central coast, the nests we’ve found are built on small mossy islets in bogs or beaver ponds with muddy bottoms, probably to protect them from mammalian predators. Cranes also use islets as roosts. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2008.

The bogs of the outer coastal islands where we find crane nests and roosts are so beautiful. Bonsai shore pine, red and yellow cedar, mountain hemlock, sweet gale, labrador tea, bog rosemary and bog laurel, many colorful species of Sphagnum moss, and reindeer lichens are all common here. Photo: krista Roessingh, 2007.

Bog laurel in bloom on a mossy islet. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2007.

Labrador tea and cloudberry growing from Sphagnum hummocks on a misty morning in September. Photo: krista or Ingmar, 2008.

Here a Stellar’s jay is harassing a nesting crane. The crane stays very still and calm, moving almost imperceptibly to lift its head and look around. We’ve seen a whole flock of jays trying to bother this crane for a tasty crane-egg breakfast, and a pair of eagles with a nest nearby frequently circling overhead. This year both the crane’s eggs appeared to have hatched successfully, although only one chick survived to the end of June. Photo: Ingmar Lee, 2007.

This crane is trying to lead Ingmar away from a nearby nest, where its mate is sitting still. It pretends to be wounded and walks swiftly through the bog and forest, hoping Ingmar will pursue it rather than go after the eggs. Photo: Ingmar Lee, 2007.

A crane nest after hatching. Cranes lay between 1 and 3 eggs, but usually 2. The males and females take turns sitting on the nest until the eggs hatch, after about 30 days. We watched 5 nests around Bella Bella this year, and they all hatched around the end of May or beginning of June. Photo: Ingmar Lee, 2008.

We always wondered how crane chicks got from the nest and roost islets to the edge of the pool. This year we saw two chicks swimming, a talent their long-toed parents rarely display, however kayakers on the north coast saw half-grown chicks swimming in saltwater this summer. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2008.

Here’s a cute little chick! It’s hard to fathom that in less than 4 months this bird will have grown almost as large as its parents and will be starting out on a southerly migration 1000 or so miles long. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2008.

During their first month, crane chicks walk down from the bogs to the beaches, or to marshes and lakes to feed with their parents. We’ve found several nests and roosting areas by following tracks in muddy hollows in the bogs.

We often find wolf and deer tracks in the bogs, which offer good visibility and easy travel compared with the forest. Here are crane and wolf tracks side by side on the south end of Hunter Island. Photo: Sarah Osberg, 2008.

This crane chick is about a month old and can’t yet fly. When approached, the family hides under low-hanging boughs or retreats into the forest. Chicks fledge at between 50 and 60 days. Photo: Krista Roessingh, July 2008.

Most of the crane families that we have observed started out with two chicks, but the chicks compete for food and attention, and one usually dies off within the first month after hatching. We found this small chick’s body not far from the nest. Photo: Krista Roessingh, 2008.

This chick is feeding on salal berries at the forest edge. We start finding a lot of berry seeds in crane droppings in July when the crowberries (Empetrum nigrum) ripen. Photo: Ingmar Lee, 2007.

¹ Ivey, G.L., C.P. Herziger, and T.J. Hoffmann. 2005. Annual movements of Pacific Coast Sandhill Cranes. Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop 9:25-35.