Flight of Four Sandhill Cranes

[Probatim]

6. I love Sandhill Cranes and got to see several this weekend while in NW PA.

My first experience with them was probably 20 years ago while visiting a park near Flint, MI. I was a less unexperienced birder than I am now and while I didn't immediately see them, I heard them calling from nearby.

My lizard brain identified them as the velociraptors from Jurassic Park and the urge to run like hell to the car seemed strange at the time. It took a few moments of scanning through the trees to find a pair feeding. I ended up seeing quite a few that day, including a few colts.

My brother had a similar incident in Florida around the same time. He was unloading his work van at a job site, heard the velociraptors, went around the passenger side to see what was going on - and the damn bird was at the passenger side door. He joked that he was glad he was traveling and had a spare pair of underwear in his travel bag. Not what he expected.