[gardeners] Monday in the garden
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:47:50 -0600
We were out in the garden doing a little weeding, cleaning out the
greenhouse, etc. when a flight of what I believe were Sandhill Cranes
went over. They were about 2,000 or 3,000 feet up when I finally saw
them but what attracted my attention was a loud "grok" sort of sound
that we heard twice. When finally located it was a flock of about 50
birds heading north by northwest from us, probably toward west Texas.
I'm reasonably certain it was cranes because I've never seen herons
flying in large groups at altitude before. A quick Google search lead me
to photos of Sandhill's in migratory flight and that's what this flight
looked like.
Miz Anne and I were excited about the sighting, it's our first of
migratory Sandhill cranes. When we lived in Corpus Christi, TX we used
to see the Whoopers come in in the spring and that was a reason to
celebrate. We've seen flights of Roseate spoonbills as they are common
around here and in Saudi we saw large numbers of flamingoes each year
but cranes aren't real common along the Gulf Coast except around the
Whooper refuge in the Texas Coastal Bend.
This has really made our day, week, month, and probably the year for us.
Life is good.
George