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Fish & Wildlife Home > Hunting & Trapping Information > Properties > Jasper-Pulaski > Sandhill Cranes During Their Fall Migration Sandhill Cranes During Their Fall Migration

 

See one of Indiana's greatest wildlife spectacles at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area. Each fall, tens of thousands of sandhill cranes visit J-P's shallow marshes.

 

Click on image to see video

 

Best days
Greater sandhill cranes can be seen at J-P from late September through December. Crane numbers peak in mid-November.

Best bet -- magnificent, noisy flocks are usually seen at the northern Indiana property from mid-October through mid-December.

Best times
Sunrise - Gigantic flocks rise and fly out of roosting marshes to Goose Pasture. The cranes socialize in the pasture for awhile before flying out to feed in area fields and swamps.

Sunset - Beginning about one hour before sunset, flocks of cranes kite into Goose Pasture from all directions. They gab and socialize again before returning to roosting marshes at dusk.

Best place
The crane spectacle is best seen at the Goose Pasture Viewing Area (see map). Resting marshes are closed to the public. During the day, cranes are often spotted feeding and dancing in nearby harvested farm fields.

Sandhill Crane Count 
On 12/29/09, ther were approximately 1,500 cranes still roosting on Jasper Pulaski and several thousand more roosting in private fields surrounding the property.  North bound cranes will begin arriving in late January and will have passed through Jasper Pulaski by April 1, 2010.  February and March are the best times to see cranes in the spring migration.  This will be the last post until the southern migration begins again in fall 2010.

Previous counts:
12/22/09:    4,000
12/15/09:  10,000
12/08/09:  13,037
12/01/09:  13,490
11/24/09:  14,500
11/17/09:  13,235
11/10/09:  10,990
11/03/09:  10,200
10/27/09:  10,420
10/20/09:    9,308
10/14/09:    6,000
10/06/09:    2,500
9/30/09:         350
9/23/09:         250
9/17/09:           24

For additional information on the whooping cranes see the following Web sites:

 

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