I spent much time this morning on Carncross Rd. (N. Montezuma Wetlands Complex) watching the 2 adult SANDHILL CRANES and their 2 CHICKS. The chicks are about half grown now, walk like the adults, forage for themselves, and have a good growth of primaries on their long wings. They cannot fly yet, however.
I watched a series of behaviors that, to me, indicate the chicks are quite bright. During the first hour of observation, an adult made 2 attempts to demonstrate the mechanics of flight. It took the customary 3-4 steps, flapped its wings and flew low about 125'. One of the chicks soon tried to emulate. There were 3 tries and each was different. All started with extensive wing flapping. In the first case, the chick hopped forward about 6 feet. It did get off the ground by hopping, but only a couple of inches. In the second try, the wing flapping was followed by a rapid run. This looked promising to me, but failed to get the bird in the air. For the third attempt, the chick actually galloped (like a kid playing "horsey"). I can't remember ever seeing a bird gallop. I think that after each unsuccessful attempt, the chick changed its tactics. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
