Flaps Down Trumpetting cries announced their arrival to the nesting site. These paired Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis) spent the day hunting and feeding along the recently burned valley to the south. Controlled-fire had been carefully applied to the ridges and drier grasslands of the oak savanna that surrounded the wetlands they called home. The marsh sits at the confluence of smaller spring fed streams that make their way north into the Wisconsin River. Beforelong they and this year’s fledglings will be hidden among the cattails, their heads and necks blending in with the tall vegetation.
