Tony, et.al.: I would be surprised to see very many Sandhill Cranes migrating under conditions so unfavorable that they are only attaining a ground speed of 34 MPH. Usually either they have a tailwind or they don't migrate at all. The exception sometimes occurs in the spring when the urge to head north [die Zugunruhe] often has cranes fighting headwinds until they tire and give up.
I'd say the typical ground speed of Sandhill Cranes over this area of west-central KS would be in the 50-100 MPH range. Occasionally on a warm still day one might see them doing the "thermal climb and glide" strategy where it often takes them quite a while to gain altitude, but even then the glide part involves some serious speed. I once attempted to follow a family of Whooping Cranes that sailed over our yard out in open country, but after 15 miles of driving 70-90 MPH on dirt roads I decided it was too dangerous to continue the chase. Yes, cranes sometimes seem slow and clunky when they're down close to the ground, but when they are at high altitudes they are clickin' off those miles. At least that's what I've observed. And I've seen a few! Scott Seltman 1968 155th Ave. Larned, KS 67550 ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] ; [email protected] Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 12:18 PM Subject: [cobirds] Re: Reports of Sandhill Cranes; more, please For what it’s worth, I thought I would enter the Sandhill Crane discussion. I know I have certainly enjoyed reading the reports of the Sandhill flocks. Regardless of whether the reports are scientifically worthy of reporting, they have no doubt added to my personal enjoyment and knowledge of the birds, which is probably why I and many others are on co-birds in the first place, so I want to say thank you everyone for posting these. Just out of curiosity, I used the reports of the N. Boulder flock spotted at 6:30 and, assuming this could be the same flock spotted in Colorado Springs at 9:00, calculated their flight speed. The two locations are approximately 85 miles apart as the crow flies, or in this case as the cranes fly, spotted 2.5 hours later, gives a flight speed of 34 mph. This is definitely in the correct range (25 - 35 mph) as I have later researched, so very well could indeed be the same flock. Maybe this adds nothing of scientific value, but it is fun to ponder and adds to my knowledge. I know I will now be on the lookout for cranes tonight. Tony Wilk 0A Longmont, CO --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
