As a side note, we were in Idaho Falls (eastern Idaho) yesterday and came through western Wyoming by Cokeville today and there were small flocks of cranes in both places. They may be heading north sooner than folks are used to.
Lynne Forrester
Littleton, CO
Jefferson Cty
From: cobirds@googlegroups.com <cobirds@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chip Clouse <chip.clouse@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 9:59:31 AM
To: mvjo...@gmail.com <mvjohnski@gmail.com>
Cc: Colorado Birds <cobirds@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [cobirds] Where are the Cranes
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 9:59:31 AM
To: mvjo...@gmail.com <mvjohnski@gmail.com>
Cc: Colorado Birds <cobirds@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [cobirds] Where are the Cranes
CoBirders and John,
Cheers,
I have been attending the Monte Vista Crane Festival for over a decade to sell binoculars with my first visit (as just a birder) back in the late 90s when there were still a couple cross-fostered Whooping Cranes from the Grays Lake NWR population in ID around.
In my experience, the Cranes are still in fairly high numbers - just spread out more. It has always been rare to find Cranes in the north end of the San Luis Valley yet there were 18 around Russell Lakes SWA on Sun afternoon, March 10th. I started seeing cranes near Fort Garland on Thu, March 7th and found large groups on the refuge in both places John mentioned. There were also a lot of cranes north of the Rio Grande within a mile or two of the river and cranes well south of the refuge, west of La Jara as well. It could be that climate change is affecting agriculture such that more grain is grown now vs. potatoes and the cranes will go where the food is.
The San Luis Valley is HUGE with suitable habitat found from well south of the NM line all the way up to north of Villa Grove. Obviously water and food will concentrate cranes. I opine that those can be found in more places than before and therefore cranes are in more places than before.
John is Mr. SLV Birder and I am only there for 4 days a year. He's forgotten more about the valley than I'll never know. I just have noticed the cranes in more places than before in the limited window of time I visit.
I also attended the Festival of the Cranes in NM in Dec and led tours both before and after the festival putting me down there for 15 straight days. Wintering cranes are not as concentrated at the Bosque del Apache NWR as they once were too. We found cranes from just north of Albuquerque, to the Rio Grande Nature Center and Valle de Oro NWR in town to south of the Bosque. Photographers were lamenting about the dearth of cranes on the refuge but there were several 1000s at Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area 30 min north of Socorro - a place I never knew about until this year. While I am sure climate change is and will cause changes, I'm seeing more places holding cranes at lower numbers than when they tended to be more concentrated in fewer places in NM and in CO. Of course, this is anecdotal observation only with no real data to analyze...
As a side note, I had 80 Sandhill Cranes fly over my apartment on the Wheat Ridge/Lakewood line while shoveling snow last Friday.
Chip Clouse
Lakewood
For a few weeks now I have been tuned into what people are saying on social media and in various communications regarding the Monte Vista Cranes.Photographers have lamented.,...'where are the cranes?'...we traveled quite a distance and did not see any. Where have all the Cranes gone. There used to be thousands at MVNWR. Now there is nothing there. In local chats with friends, I have heard the same issue. So I have been pondering this lately and have a few thoughts. They may not be right or wrong, just thoughts.In the week leading up to Crane Festival, I thought there were good numbers at the refuge. They started strong at the 8S turnout. Then they seemed to move to 7S and 2E grainfield. Then, the snow hit, and the big flocks seemed to have vanished or dispersed. The field 7S and 2E that had 8-10000 birds now has a few hundred. So what is going on? The Brant was a one-hit wonder so far as I know.First thing is...if you want to see cranes at the Refuge, you need to be there at 6-700 am for the flyout and feeding. Then another primetime is 3-7 pm. I think one problem is that many visit the auto tour loop at mid-day. For some reason, the birds (cranes) that used to rest here in flocks are not really roosting/staging on the auto tour loop! I cannot say why that is because they have always been there in the past. Something is amiss here. Not sure what?
The birds are still here. I live 4 miles north of the MVNWR and ask them to sign out when they leave! Ha! Just kidding, but in reality I see their swarming spiraling masses overhead when they head north. I have not seen that to date but expect it any time!Three days ago as I birded with a friend (3-5pm), we saw few birds on the refuge and a lot flying toward La Jara. (None on the auto tour loop). I think the snow cover might have changed things and birds are flying 10 miles south to easier access grain. I think there are interior parts of the refuge that hold massive numbers, but most of these areas are closed for bird protection.Are there less birds hanging around the MV Refuge these days? I would say yes and here is why.I believe climate change may have something to do with this. In past years, much of the Valley is in ice lock when the Feb waters are turned on. A place like Smith Reservoir would be frozen solid and not very amenable to cranes. The MVNWR artesian water is like a magnet and birds have the security they need. In the past, I have taken folks out in the first week of March and temperatures are in single digits. This made for fantastic photographs as the steam rose among the birds and the sunrise in the background was just phenomenal. As most know, I am at the refuge twice a day, and that steamy sunrise has not happened this year at all.This year and in recent past years, there are an estimated 5,000 cranes in the Fort Garland Area. They eat in the grainfields and roost in the wet mud of Smith Reservoir which has been thawed for some time. That means that 20% of the 25,000 cranes in this flock are elsewhere. Many others are possible elsewhere like Russell Lakes, San Luis Lake SWA, etc.I have tried my darndest to pattern the cranes, but it has been very difficult this spring. They have not adhered to any pattern of predictability for very long. So I am somewhat baffled by it all.
Will be out of commission for a while but will get back to you when I am recovered.John RawinskiMonte Vista, CO--
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