April 2022 - 34

Sandhill cranes can fly as high as 12,000 feet in the air while migrating. (Photo by Peter Arnold)
" Did you hear that? "
Turning in the direction
of Lisa, my wife, I nodded. We were hunting pronghorn north of
Gillette. But the noise in question wasn't a snorting pronghorn
or a faraway gunshot. It arose not from the earth around us
but high overhead in the heavens. Momentarily forgetting the
quest for a tasty, tan and white denizen of the prairie, we laid
backs-down on the scaly soil and sparse grass to stare upward.
Way, way up in the bright blue sky a ragged phalanx of birds
winged their way south.
" What are they? " asked Lisa, a newish
resident to the West, her family roots in upstate
New York.
" Sandhills, " I offered. " Sandhill cranes. "
" What a lovely sound, " she commented.
" It reminds me of the loons on the lakes in
the Adirondacks, but different. "
I knew exactly what she meant. The rolling,
staccato melody of migrating sandhill cranes
is similar to the calls of other animals that
singularly say " wild. " In my world those include
the haunting voice of the loon, the low howl
of a wolf and the clarion bugle of a bull elk.
The cranes above us came from the north,
perhaps summertime residents of Canada.
But sandhill cranes also nest in Wyoming.
Come fall, they gather into large flocks and
wing their way south to wintering grounds.
Large concentrations of sandhill cranes winter
thousands of miles away at Bosque del Apache
National Wildlife Refuge in central New
34 | April 2022
Mexico and Port Aransas National Wildlife
Refuge on the coast of Texas, southwest of
Houston. Sandhills may fly at elevations
exceeding 12,000 feet above sea level to take
advantage of favorable air currents. But longnecked
cranes aren't alone in their amazing
feats of migration. Scores of other birds and
mammals in Wyoming make miraculous
movements across the landscape as they
transition from summer to winter range each
year and back again.
In the air
While sandhill cranes, hummingbirds,
meadowlarks and a host of feathered summer
residents of Wyoming are migrating out of the
state in preparation for winter, other birds are
arriving. Barrow's goldeneye, a small, diving
duck, are year-round residents in portions of
northwestern Wyoming. Other members of
the tribe that breed farther north may also
winter in the state.
Both Barrow's and common goldeneye
males, which also reside and winter in
Wyoming, sport coal-black heads above
a black and white body. Each has a white
spot near the eye. But whether migrants
or residents, two features distinguish male
Barrow's goldeneyes from the commoners.
The white spot on a Barrow's head is crescent
shaped versus mostly circular for common
goldeneyes and the iridescent hues on the
black head of a Barrow's male are purplish as

April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2022

April 2022 - 1
April 2022 - 2
April 2022 - 3
April 2022 - 4
April 2022 - 5
April 2022 - 6
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April 2022 - 8
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April 2022 - 48
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/wyoming-wildlife-may-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2023
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-iak-special-issue
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/dec-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2021
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/January2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/December2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/September2020
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