Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)

Sandhill Crane [lateral view of adult in flight]: Photograph Credit: David L. Roemer; Barren County, Kentucky; 15 February 2010.

Abundance: Fairly Common; recorded in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); population trend notably increasing since mid-1990s (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Transient mainly until c. 2000; increasing as a  Winter Resident since that year with notable wintering/migration staging flocks established in the upper Sequatchie Valley, Bledsoe County, Tennessee, since the early 2000s; in the area north of Sparta, White County, Tennessee, since the late 2000s; and around Barren River Reservoir, Barren/Allen counties, Kentucky, since the late 2000s; photograph: see above.

Regional High Count: 20,000+ (15 February 2010; Barren County, Kentucky; David L. Roemer et al.); probably an equal or greater number present during mid-February 2011 in the same county (fide David L. Roemer).

Out-of-Season Records: 

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Fall: x (

    Late Spring: x (

Note: Regional dates of earliest reported fall arrival and latest reported spring departure from fall 2002 to spring 2012 follow (because southbound fall migrants now overlap with northbound spring migrants, arrival and departure data are given as for winter residents):

Habitat: When on the ground, cranes seek large, fairly open areas, such as those provided around the shores of the many large Regional reservoirs during draw-down periods (late fall to early spring) and such as those found in many Regional agricultural areas.  Migratory cranes appear to be concentrated along a corridor bounded by Crossville and Byrdstown on the east and by McMinnville, Smithville, and Carthage on the west.  There has perhaps been a tendency toward a more westerly corridor since the establishment of a large wintering flock near Glasgow, Kentucky, during the late 2000s.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 20 (of 125) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 41 (of 206) check-lists during 2004, leading to YardWatch frequency classifications of Uncommon and Fairly Common, respectively; these classifications are roughly congruent with the abundance of this crane in the Region as a whole.

Remarks: The southward (fall) and northward (spring) migrations of Sandhill Cranes are among the great wildlife spectacles available to persons residing in or visiting the Region, as well as to persons residing southeast and north-northwest of the Region along the migratory corridor of this charismatic species.  Often heard long before being seen, flocks of migratory cranes do much to increase the quality of life for those attuned to their comings and goings.

    A hunting season on Sandhill Cranes in Kentucky and Tennessee was proposed during 2010; the Tennessee hunting season was postponed two years while the Kentucky hunting season was authorized to be implemented beginning with the first season from mid-December 2011 through mid-January 2012. A hunting season for Sandhill Cranes in Tennessee was eventually authorized for December 2013 through January 2014, to continue in later years.  Some wildlife species should not be hunted, and the Sandhill Crane is one of those species.

    It sometimes transpires that white or whitish cranes are found among flocks of typically plumaged Sandhill Cranes.  White or whitish cranes may prove to be Whooping Cranes or leucistic Sandhill Cranes: here is a Whooping Crane (note black primaries) flying with Sandhill Cranes 7 February 2010 in Barren County, Kentucky, by David L. Roemer (photo); and here are examples of leucistic Sandhill Cranes, the first in flight (note light-colored primaries) 13 February 2010 in Barren County, Kentucky, by David L. Roemer (photo) and the second on the ground at the same site 15 February 2010 by David L. Roemer (photo).

    The end of the fall migration and the beginning of the spring migration were fairly discrete temporal events for many decades, but beginning in the late 1990s or early 2000s, the fall and spring migration periods began to overlap.  This overlap in migration periods generally coincided with the establishment of wintering/migration staging flocks in the Region, first in the upper Sequatchie Valley (a moderate-sized flock), an offshoot of the large wintering flock near Hiwassee, Tennessee, and later in the agricultural areas north of Sparta, Tennessee (a moderate-sized flock), and around Glasgow, Kentucky (a moderate- to very large-sized flock).

    See the Spring UCR Bird Reports, Winter UCR Bird Reports, and Fall UCR Bird Reports for most seasons during the first decade of the third millennium for collections of sightings of this crane.  All sightings of northbound cranes provided to the author during the "spring" 2011 season (i.e., January through April 2011) are provided in the table below:

Table 1. Records of northbound Sandhill Cranes in the Upper Cumberland Region during "Spring" 2011.

Key to Observers in Table 1: John W. Barthelme (JWB), Nan E. Beesley (NEB), Wally Brines (WB), Greg Brown (GB), Valerie Brust (VB), Linda K. Craiger (LKC), Douglas A. Downs (DAD), Ginger K. Ensor (GKE), Janie C. Finch (JaF), Richard C. Finch (RCF), Jennifer Williams Furtsch (JWF), Eddie Fuson (EF), Judy C. Fuson (JCF),  W. Howard Groce (WHG), Michael J. Hawkins (MJH), Peggy Kilgore (PK), Steve Kistler (SK), James Layzer (JL), Nancy S. Layzer (NSL), Sharon Moffitt (SM), Janice Montgomery (JM), Michael P. O'Rourke (MPO), Michelle O'Rourke (MO), Susan E. Pirolo (SEP), Tim Riddle (TR), Jackie Rigsby (JR), Barbara H. Stedman (BHS), Stephen J. Stedman (SJS), Holly Taylor (HT), and Winston A. Walden (WAW)..

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited