Where are the Sandhill Cranes? Experts say they are on their way to Middle Rio Grande Valley area
by: Natalie Wadas
Posted: Dec 4, 2024 / 06:15 PM MST
Updated: Dec 5, 2024 / 10:54 AM MST
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – As December sets in, locals in Albuquerque are watching the skies for some winter visitors: the arrival of Sandhill Cranes in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. However, some are left wondering—where are they all? KRQE News 13 spoke with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to find out why it seems the flock is thinner this year.
“As far as Sandhill Cranes are concerned, here in New Mexico, here in the Middle Rio Grande Valley specifically, it’s thought to over-winter 80 percent of our Rocky Mountain population of Sandhill Cranes,” said Dan Collins, migratory game bird biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Collins said every year, anywhere between 17,000 and 21,000 Greater Sandhill Cranes migrate from the San Luis Valley in Colorado to the Middle Rio Grande Valley. This year, however, some New Mexicans are wondering if the flock has thinned out. “Based off of my experience with these birds, the surveys that I participate in, that migration is slightly delayed. I do a recruitment survey in San Luis Valley—it was October 20 through the 26th this year—and the birds were pretty thin. Trying to find birds it wasn’t necessarily hard but the numbers just weren’t there that we like to see,” Collins said.
He said his counterparts in northern states say the birds seem to be lingering there slightly longer than usual; however, this is still the normal window when these cranes usually make the trek down. “We do have to remember that these birds have wings, have the ability to move across the landscape and they might just be making decisions this year that they think are better for them than you know typically coming here and to New Mexico,” Collins said.
He said the birds might be taking longer to migrate because it hasn’t gotten cold enough to push them south yet: “Why move? Why expend the energy, you know, when you can just stay sort of fat and happy where you are and move when that weather really pushes you out of that area when that water starts to freeze up and that forage resource starts to deplete?”
So, for folks craning their necks to catch a glimpse of these flighty friends: “Be patient, they will arrive; and, just because you’re not seeing them in one particular area that you typically see them, they likely are around. They might just be making a different decision this year,” Collins said.
Some of the Sandhill Cranes migrate even farther south to Mexico for the winter, and west to southeastern Arizona as well.
Where are the Sandhill Cranes? Experts say they are on their way to Middle Rio Grande Valley area |
