There’s no mistaking the large group of birds’ loud, bugle-like calls as they soar through the sky.
The sound can stir excitement in those with a fascination for sandhill cranes.
Everyone who enjoys birds was invited to attend the Celebration of Cranes event Saturday at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Seymour.
The public had the opportunity to join refuge staff and volunteers in looking for and learning about cranes in their habitat before the birds leave the area and head north to the nesting grounds.
February is usually a big migration time for sandhill cranes through Jackson County, and right now, there are thousands of birds in the area.
While many people can see them when visiting the refuge and Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area near Linton, they also can be seen in farmers’ fields, said Donna Stanley, park ranger at Muscatatuck.
Stanley talked about the cranes during a presentation in the James W. Roberts Auditorium, located in the visitor center.
About 20 people gathered in the auditorium during a 10 a.m. session to learn more about the cranes with a question-and-answer period at the end. Two guided car-caravan crane tours also took place Saturday.
“For the past few weeks, we have had an exceptional treat as the cranes have been sitting on the refuge barges or standing on ice until early in the morning and staying until midday,” Stanley said. “We’re at the tail end of one of the most wonderful spectacles of bird migration you could ever imagine, and the population of sandhill cranes has over 500,000 birds in it.”
She said every spring and fall, the cranes go to the nesting grounds, where some of them nest in Canada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Then they go south through this area and used to go to the southern states, like Alabama and Florida, but over the years, they figured out they didn’t have to go that far.
“It was only about 30 years ago cranes started stopping in the Ewing Bottoms at Brownstown,” Stanley said. “For the last five years, about 20,000 cranes have stayed the winter in Jackson County and have not continued south for the winter.”
She said last year, the cranes left Jackson County during March, but right now, birds are coming back from the southern states and heading north.
“A week ago, we had about 8,000 cranes on the refuge, and a few days ago, we had 5,000, then Friday, around 2,000 or 3,000 cranes, and they fly at night,” Stanley said. “As cold as it is, the birds are starting to head north, and if it keeps warming up, soon, they’ll all be gone.”
Refuge volunteer Linda Sullivan was attending the children’s activities at the visitor center. She said kids could sit down at the table and make a paper whooping crane, and there also were coloring pages with pictures of cranes and information about them.
Susanna and Justin Little of Seymour were at the refuge Saturday with 13-year-old Aaron Blevins and his 10-year-old sister, Brynnaleigh Blevins. They were at the activity table filling out and coloring worksheets and making paper cranes.
“I love everything about them, and we already saw some this morning, and yesterday, we saw tons of them. There’s so many, they might take over the world someday,” Brynnaleigh said.
Susanna said her family is from North Vernon, but they recently moved to Seymour, and every day when she takes her kids to and from school, they see cranes in the fields.
“We see them all the time, and sometimes, it’s like a whole sea of them,” she said. “I told the kids the refuge was having a crane day, and Brynna was like, ‘Crane day?’ and she wanted to learn more about them and see them a little closer.”
Christopher Kulwicki, 6, also stopped by the activity table to try his hand at constructing a paper crane, attending the event with his mother, Clara Kulwicki.
Clara said they had traveled to Muscatatuck from their home in Louisville, Kentucky, that morning.
“My sister lives up in Indianapolis, and I’m in Louisville, so I suggested we meet here in the middle and do some hiking and see some cranes,” Clara said.
Christopher said he hadn’t seen the cranes yet, but he was looking forward to seeing some.
For information about the refuge, email [email protected] or call 812-522-4352.