What is going on.... Sandhill Cranes in the sky?

[reible]

We got a nice 5-6" of snow this weekend, this morning it was just 20 degrees. When we went of our walk it had warmed to 21. We are in the flight path of Sandhill Cranes but never have we heard or seen them this late in the year. Hope they made it to warmer places as we are at the brink of the next cold front reaching us. I'm also wondering where had been to get here so late.

Glad we were out at the right time because if someone told us we would not have believed them.

Ed

[garys]

With the unusually warm Fall, they probably stopped off farther north than normal. Now we are having an unusually cold start to Winter so they need to get moving to get away. Up here, we have been extremely cold the last 10 days with highs in the daytime near 0 and lows down to -20F.
This kind of weather freezes over the last of the water so the migratory birds have to move out.
Add 30" of snow in the last 2 weeks, and there is no food supply left available for them.

[Ed in Tampa]

All birds are late coming south. Our feeder is full,of seed but no birds. I think they were late last year but not this late.
Thing that worries me the most is our summer birds all see, to be gone. We were over run with Jays and mocking birds and I hardly saw one this summer. Strange.

[ERLover]

Seems like water fowl only leave when there is no open water and/or when food supply gets covered with snow.

[sawmill]

When I went out to put wood in the stove last week Wed the sandhills cranes were really whooping it up back by the beaver pond. This is in northern Mich. They are usually gone by the first of Nov here. Not much for them to eat now with 20 plus inches of snow on the ground