Sandhill Crane End Of Week 11

Sandhill Crane On a soggy day when they stayed near home, Tiedeman's Pond, the juvenile does a survey for other activity.

Sandhill Crane Both of the longest toes on the juvenile have white toenails. Will they stay that way?

Sandhill Crane The feet of one of the adults. Or will they eventually turn black like these?

Sandhill Crane Heading for a mossy log platform at the edge of the pond, they herd Mallards before them.

Sandhill Crane The juvenile does a combination show-off and stretch with its wings to the adult male.

Sandhill Crane Bigger display, but not right at the male.  A certain feel of confrontation has crept into the displays.

Sandhill Crane The male ignores this as it continues on to the log island covered with short grass.

Sandhill Crane The juvenile stretches, flaps and displays to no one in particular, or maybe the indifferent Mallards.

Sandhill Crane All three choose spots in order of arrival. Female on the left, juvenile in the middle, and the male on the right.

Sandhill Crane They settle into preening and stretching, which will take about half an hour before completing that round.

Sandhill Crane Both adults are heavily molting, removing bales of feathers with each preening episode.

Sandhill Crane Not only that, the feathers stick to the bills when they're wet from the rain.

Sandhill Crane Time for a bit of a stretch for the male.

Sandhill Crane Whenever an adult flares its wings, the juvenile has to follow suit. Sometimes the other adult does too.

Sandhill Crane So the juvenile directs its own display toward its mother. Apparent body size changes remarkably depending on posture.

Sandhill Crane Sharing the attitude with the adult male.

Sandhill Crane For a few minutes everyone ignores everyone else while the preening and contortions gets serious.

Sandhill Crane Tight quarters make for difficult stretching, but both adult male and juvenile do simultaneous leg-under-wing stretches.

Sandhill Crane A non-directed stretch.

Sandhill Crane Not understanding molting, the juvenile believes everything in the adult's bill is food, which of course is his to take.

Sandhill Crane Not food, so another bit of flapping will have to do.

Sandhill Crane Balancing is hard, so the bill-to-the-ground pose has to be modified.

Sandhill Crane A last flap by the female adult as the juvenile and male adult look out over the pond.

Sandhill Crane The male hunkers down in preparation for a take-off.

Sandhill Crane Though surprised, the juvenile and female adult follow as the male beats across to where their original nest remains.

Sandhill Crane The male adult drops yet another feather as the juvenile and female adult veer to the right at the juvenile's lead.

Sandhill Crane Everyone makes mutual corrections so that they land close to one another in the far cattails. Another day in their life.

© Michael Bailey All Rights Reserved; Not for reproduction.  No photograph
from this blog may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means whatsover.

Sandhill Crane Week 11

Early in the week, the juvenile remained flying back and forth in the small mowed park on the west side of Tiedeman's Pond as if an invisible boundary held it there.  Within a day or two of that, the boundary vanished, and the juvenile began flying about the neighborhood. A similar, mowed grassy area to the west of Stricker's Pond became a destination. And so the horizon recedes farther and farther along with bringing new experiences and dangers.

Sandhill Crane Juvenile in the lead, flying across the north side of Stricker's Pond on the way from Tiedeman's, on the way to a new spot. Freedom at last.

Sandhill Crane The flooded edges of the field provide water and food.

Sandhill Crane Doing a version of its snake dance, bounding up and down and in a circle over a danger real or imagined.

Sandhill Crane The wings will not stop as the juvenile uses them more and more as its entire body matures and strengthens.

Sandhill Crane And the parents still occassionally offer the juvenile happily accepted food bits.

Sandhill Crane For no apparent reason, the juvenile took off at full tilt, splashing across the edge of the wet field.

Sandhill Crane Closely following a parent in the hope of easy food.

Sandhill Crane A tangle of heads, necks and legs at an excellent spot. The female is in front and the male to the left.

Sandhill Crane Time for more flying as a parent looks on with a whatever, go ahead.  They keep an eye open, but allow more distance now.

Sandhill Crane The take-off downstrokes are more powerful, the run quicker, and lift-off faster.

Sandhill Crane A bit of air-paddling with the feet doesn't hurt.

Sandhill Crane And a dangle before the tuck, though the flight is only a hundred feet or so.  Why walk when you can fly?

Sandhill Crane A graceful touchdown.  The parents watched for a bit, then the female flew after walking halfway to catch up.

Sandhill Crane A show of the wings in their full glory.  Not too long before they need to make the journey to New Mexico or thereabouts.

Sandhill Crane Circling the entire area, they return to the standing water at the edges.  The juvenile needs another drink.

Sandhill Crane Dancing and splashing.

Sandhill Crane An adult adds a bit of flapping to the mix while the juvenile studies both it and the sky.

Sandhill Crane Intermittent preening takes over again, though birds flying overhead keep the juvenile's interest.

Sandhill Crane As the adult male shows off his wings, the juvenile does a tenative dance bow, looking uncertain this time.

Sandhill Crane And dancing around. The older the juvenile becomes, the more serious the meaning.

Sandhill Crane The male stops to de-escalate, but the juvenile has its on switch stuck as usual with excess energy.

Sandhill Crane Sometimes just ignoring the displays works.

Sandhill Crane And sometimes it doesn't.

Sandhill Crane Off on another flight to the other end of the field.

Sandhill Crane The take-off is even smoother this time. The juvenile is becoming a master.

Sandhill Crane After this flight, the parents waited out the juvenile, who returned to the other side with them before all strolled into a new yard. Exploration and danger.

© Michael Bailey All Rights Reserved; Not for reproduction.  No photograph
from this blog may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means whatsover.