Hello my old friend! Sandhill Cranes have one of the longest fossil histories of any currently existing bird. The oldest unequivocal sandhill crane fossil is 2.5 million years old, older by half than the earliest remains of most living species of birds, primarily found from after the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary some 1.8 million years ago. (source: Wikipedia?"

A Sandhill Crane colt works on its worm snack while its sibling looks on and says, "You gonna eat all of that?"

Ma and Pa Sandhill Crane let out one of their rattling bugle calls with their two little colts beside them. Their calls can travel up to 2.5 miles and are immediately recognizable whether from on the ground or several thousand feet in the air. What a joyful noise!

last spring a Sandhill Crane family spent a few days ambling and foraging around on some private land that had some marshes, grasses and open fields; it was a blessing to be able to spend some time watching, observing and capturing . . .

A Sandhill Crane pauses from foraging in a corn field during an early Spring snow. Two adults and a juvenile were leisurely poking around in the dirt while a gentle snow fell around them. They were surely looking forward to sunnier and warmer days ahead, as we were.