Sandhill Crane Week 8

Sandhill Crane How a Sandhill Crane lays down, knees bending backwards, with a very careful kneel.

Sandhill Crane Then plop breast-first on the ground over the extended legs and feet.

Sandhill Crane Then fall asleep. This was about a fifteen minute nap with open eyes every few minutes.

Sandhill Crane Possible foods are still being analyzed. Here the fallen blossom of a flowering tree. Take a minute or two to decide. Nope.

Sandhill Crane After receiving a worm, the juvenile immediately wanted more, but all the parent had was mud and grass in its bill.

Sandhill Crane Insects in the bark of a large tree are good.

Sandhill Crane Possibly the favorite food is a worm, just received from a parent.

Sandhill Crane All three as they make the morning rounds searching for insects, worms and the odd mouse.

Sandhill Crane The most important items on the agenda are wings and how to use them. A parent shows off to a rapt audience.

Sandhill Crane Flight feathers are coming into their own, beautifully formed.

Sandhill Crane Exercising wings and muscles. Soon the discovery of flight once strong enough and the flapping vigorous enough.

Sandhill Crane Tucking in the equipment, but not for long.

Sandhill Crane The parents know better, but the juvenile has to also discover for itself not all things are edible.

Sandhill Crane A simultaneous wing and leg stretch. The opposite side is done next, almost like a tai chi move.

Sandhill Crane One adult flaps enough that it stirs up the other adult, causing a few loud comments.

Sandhill Crane With both adults flaring their wings, the juvenile becomes excited too, showing it with a good general feather ruffling.

Sandhill Crane With the parents briefly done, the juvenile is just getting warmed up.

Sandhill Crane One adult runs and takes off in the direction of the pond, with the juvenile flapping along behind, still on the ground.

Sandhill Crane This is serious excitement.

Sandhill Crane Wings wobble back and forth, a banking movement while running in the direction of the adult that flew off.

Sandhill Crane A good lean is part of a real take-off. Pieces of the flight puzzle slowly coming together.

Sandhill Crane Another small jump and flapping, but things are not quite there yet.

Sandhill Crane Wings back down, neck very ruffled from excitement.

Sandhill Crane A turn and off again as the flying adult banks over the pond, coming back.

Sandhill Crane Running, running, flapping, leaning. Serious business.

Sandhill Crane The remaining adult runs and flaps after the juvenile. All this earthbound business is getting a bit much.

Sandhill Crane The juvenile looks quite streamlined and ready for flight.

Sandhill Crane Another little leap, flapping harder and harder.

Sandhill Crane But no lift-off yet.

Sandhill Crane The parent flies over from behind as the first one returns from the brief flight and lands. More lessons to go. They resume strolling and eating as a trio.

© 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 Start Week 6

Sandhill Crane At the start of week six, the wings and tail feathers are definitely growing into real feathers, pushing off the down.

Sandhill Crane The stride casually covers a couple of feet, but on the run can span up to several feet at a time.

Sandhill Crane Part of the daily routine are a huge number of naps. Another is about to start.

Sandhill Crane The mandatory guard parent is also drowsy, but takes the opportunity of the pause to do a bit of careful grooming.

Sandhill Crane Out of character in the daytime, a parent lays down to rest. Of course the juvenile gets up soon after that.

Sandhill Crane A tired adult nods off, head swaying back and forth it starts to doze.

Sandhill Crane Up again, waking the parent. The other parent stands nearby, doing the real guard duty.

Sandhill Crane Finally up for another feeding stint, the juvenile goes through a few wing stretches to limber up.

Sandhill Crane It spends a fair amount of time running from parent to parent when they offer morsels of food.

Sandhill Crane This one looks like a live hornet.

Sandhill Crane Synchronized strolling and eating.

Sandhill Crane The almost independent juvenile leads the way.

Sandhill Crane Lift off. Some vigorous flapping and a little jump and it gets off the ground a few inches.

Sandhill Crane More flapping while attached to the earth. The vanishing down feathers on the ends of the flight feathers are quite visible.

Sandhill Crane Tucking the wings back in.

Sandhill Crane More food from a dutiful parent.

Sandhill Crane The base of a tree in the shade proves interesting for awhile.

Sandhill Crane Silhouette of the day.

© 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 5

Sandhill Crane One of the two parents, bill muddied from foraging.

Sandhill Crane An impressively equipped foot of the same parent.

Sandhill Crane While the mate and the juvenile are about a hundred feet away, this one makes a kill.

Sandhill Crane Rather than eat the mouse, it brought it back down the trail, around the corner and looked for the chick to stand up and come get it. No response, so some excited wing flapping.

Sandhill Crane All this finally woke the resting youngster as the adult continued to dismantle the mouse.

Sandhill Crane The adult approaches an increasingly interested juvenile with a morsel from the kill it so carefully carried back.

Sandhill Crane Jiggling it around a bit to get complete attention.

Sandhill Crane Success. The juvenile takes the piece.

Sandhill Crane Still a bit out of it from the nap, the juvenile shows little interest, so the adult finishes off the meal in short order.

Sandhill Crane At last the youngster wakes up enough to do some necessary wing stretches. Flight is only two or three weeks away.

Sandhill Crane And off to forage, mostly on its own, but with an eye on the parents.

Sandhill Crane In among the bushes.

Sandhill Crane Neck feathers ruffled in a striking pattern.

Sandhill Crane With one adult always nearby, the juvenile scouts the tall grasses, concentrating on seeds and bugs.

Sandhill Crane Both parents scanning all directions at the sound of a passing person with a dog on a leash. A few days before a dog had started barking at them, so one adult actually chased it and the owner several hundred feet, causing dog and owner to run for it.

Sandhill Crane Giving the signal that it has food to offer by freezing, the adult waits for the juvenile to come and get it.

Sandhill Crane The amazing eye of the adult.

Sandhill Crane The fuzzed-up juvenile has to grow into the details. Learning to forage, though, means more mud on the bill.

Sandhill Crane A big part of the day is flapping the wings, strengthening the flight muscles as the feathers grow very rapidly.

Sandhill Crane Running around in circles and being goofy at times is also part of the day.

Sandhill Crane The brilliant color of the growing wings during a serious stretch.

Sandhill Crane Another angle.

Sandhill Crane And a full wing beat for a pretend flight.

Sandhill Crane All this stirred up one of the patient adults, used to daily flights, but completely earthbound until the juvenile can join them.

Sandhill Crane Another morsel off in the weeds.

Sandhill Crane Preparing for yet another little nap, the juvenile does a bit of careful preening.

Sandhill Crane Another snack from an adult.

Sandhill Crane A simultaneous leg and wing stretch.

Sandhill Crane Down for the nap. An adult moves up close to stand sentinel duty, never failing to keep a close guard on its safety.

© 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.