One beautiful spring evening a pair of sandhill cranes waltzed through our yard with what appeared to be two baby sandhills. Gary snapped a quick photograph of the sandhill family of four as we were sitting down to dinner on our deck. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we looked at the photo later and identified “that weird-looking colt” as a gosling.
We watched from afar as the sandhill cranes settled into the cattails on Green Lake. Cautiously, we paddled out to see the gosling and its fuzzy red sibling. We became obsessed with the family and fretted when 4th of July fireworks exploded over their nest.
Over the summer, we watched the adults treat the gosling just like their own colt, teaching it the ways of sandhill cranes. They functioned fully as a family, walking together, eating together, grooming together, nesting together, watching out for each other, and – by fall – flying together. And then, when winter approached, the snow fell and the temperatures dropped, they flew off together, joining other sandhill families in the great migration.
What an honor to watch this beautiful family as they graced our lives this year.
Gary Noren and Marty Harding
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