Sunday, September 16, 2007

Cranes in field of white flowers


Cranes in field of white flowers
Originally uploaded by jhhymas
I just adore seeing sandhill cranes. This was yesterday. Soon they will fly to warmer climes, but they come back every year. They like to come down in an area that has been mowed, and don't come down in the knee-high fields of late summer weeds and grasses. I guess the fox and coyote might lurk within. When I see them, they are often in what seems to be a small family group like this, although I see larger groups in flight during the migration. A couple years ago, we had planted some leftover vetch seed that someone gave us. It made purple flowers, which were followed by seeds in a pod. Vetch is of the pea family, I think. After the pods were dry, we had cranes come several times to eat them, I watched with my binoculars as they tore each pod loose from the vine and swallowed it. I clearly saw them take the pod. What fun! I need to plant some again. They ate almost all the seeds and I have had only one or two plants come up since.

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