The Sandhill Crane Migration Signals Spring Has Arrived In Interior Alaska
By Megan McDonald|Published May 27, 2020
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Megan McDonald
Author
Megan McDonald is a writer, photographer, and owner of humu media, an Alaska-based digital media agency. She spends her free time traveling with her husband and daughter around the US and the world.
If you need another reason to know that spring is here, then the annual Sandhill Crane migration is another wonderful way to tell that summer is on its way. Every spring, these gorgeous birds fly north from their winter homes. Keep your eyes peeled in early to mid-May for the arrival of the Sandhill Cranes at their nesting grounds.
Every year the Sandhill Crane migration arrives at their breeding grounds in early to mid-May.
The cranes that summer on the Alaska Peninsula, and the Cook Inlet region, winter in central California. They are two distinct groups, and the larger group stays in the interior of the state while the smaller resides in southeast Alaska.
Altogether during May through September, some 200,000 Sandhill Cranes will fly through this area! The smaller group will total almost 20,000 cranes that visit Southeast Alaska from central California.
These birds arrive at their summer breeding grounds in Alaska and begin to nest.
They love tundra, wetlands, and the muskegs that Alaska is known for. Their nests are modest, shallow depressions in the ground, usually filled with 2-3 eggs per nest.
This species is known for their mating “dance,” a display filled with skips, hops, and bows.
Whether you’re watching them in the Copper River Delta, or in the Tanana Valley, you won’t regret a day of sight seeing some of Alaska’s largest birds.
Have you ever witnessed the sandhill crane migration? What did you think? Where did you spot them? Let us know in the comments below!
