Are Sandhill Cranes Nesting in Connecticut?

Photo by Denise Savageau

August 2, 2016
Sandhill Crane
Grus canadensis

by Tom Andersen
Communications Director
August 2, 2016 – Are Sandhill Cranes nesting in northwestern Connecticut? If they are, it would be the first documented nesting for the species in the state. They are definitely nesting in nearby Massachusetts. But nobody has been able to confirm it for Connecticut – yet.

A fellow who lives in Litchfield County sent me a couple of photos of Sandhill Cranes that he took last week in Norfolk, and when I posted them on our Facebook page with that question the interest it drew was startling — 2,000 likes, shares, and comments, more than for just about anything we’ve ever posted and enough to make us think our Bird Finder fans would want to know more.

So yesterday I asked Michael Aurelia if he would write a quick post for us. Mike is one of our regular Bird Finder contributors. He is on our Board of Directors and is also the president of Aton Forest, in Norfolk, and he’s seen the birds up there. (These photos were taken there last fall by Denise Savageau, Mike’s wife.) But he was about to head out to survey shorebirds so we spoke on the phone instead.

Photo by Denise Savageau

He told me that the folks associated with Aton Forest are hopeful that the cranes are nesting up there but nobody has been able to confirm it. Yet they definitely are nesting nearby.

Field work conducted during the second Massachusetts breeding bird atlas project, from 2007-2011, confirmed that they were nesting across the border, in New Marlborough. When young cranes mature, after about four years, they disperse to find their own breeding territory. So Aton Forest and other nearby areas with suitable habitat would be likely locations for them to expand into.

Mike said this summer is the third in a row that Sandhills have been seen at Aton but no recently fledged birds have been seen. Intriguingly, a woman who lives in that area called Aton Forest several years ago to say she had Sandhill Cranes in her yard.

“She maintained that they’re breeding in her field,” Mike said. “She would not tell us where she lived and she would not let us confirm it.”

Photo by Denise Savageau

In general, the Sandhill Crane’s breeding range encompasses several midwestern and western states, and much of Canada. There is a small population in western New York as well. They are considered a species of least concern.

Below is a description of Sandhill Cranes, taken from a Bird Finder post in early 2015.

What it looks like: Standing at about four feet tall, Sandhill Cranes are very large, tall birds with long necks. Overall, their color is a slate grey with a rusty wash on the upperparts. Their head is small with a pale cheek and a patch of red skin on the crown. The tail is somewhat distinctive being short and covered with drooping feathers. Their loud, rattling bugle call can be heard over two miles away, and once heard, is quite distinctive.

Photo by Denise Savageau

Photos by Denise Savageau.