(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Dawn Chorus: Crane Fly-in and 2023 Audubon Fundraiser [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-16 How many Sandhill Cranes can you find? Toward the end of February we drove to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge in the afternoon for a guided ranger tour of a Sandhill Crane fly-in at dusk. Given past history, the ranger said, in a week or so after this tour, the refuge would be practically empty of cranes, which were at the very last stages of wintering locally before heading back north on spring migration. It was a nice late winter day driving around the refuge. Unfortunately, as the ranger later said, our very wet winter had flooded many fields in the area and enabled the Sandhill Cranes to fly in for their evening roosts, taking their pick of a wider location, and so they were not landing in the pond where we were. Luck of the draw! The cranes fly into shallow ponds or flooded farm fields to stand for the night, as that will prevent coyotes or other predators from getting close in the dark. Apparently Sandhill Cranes have no cold-sensitive nerves in their legs, enabling them to stand for hours in frigid water. That evening, however, they chose differing ponds than where we were watching. Still, even though we did not get a great fly-in that evening, there were plenty of Cranes, Snow Geese, and Greater White-fronted Geese at the refuge. Turn your sound up for the video: So, this is an open thread. What birds are you seeing this springtime? Geese and Cranes over the refuge More Geese and Cranes Please Donate to Our Annual Audubon Fundraiser! As regular Dawn Chorusers will recall, my wife and I help with an annual Birdathon fundraiser for our local Audubon chapter, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. Many of you have been most helpful in past years to help get us to our goal of $2,000 raised. Won’t you please step up and donate again? We really need your help this year! No amount is too small, and I think that most of us have $5 or $10 or $25 (hopefully more!) to donate. Funds raised go to help our environmental education programs for students and young birders. The SCVAS Wetlands Discovery program, for example, around San Francisco Bay, reaches hundreds of youngsters in Santa Clara County each year on field trips. Trained volunteers also conduct hands-on, in-class activities and presentations to school children, teaching them about birds, wildlife, and the environment with, if possible, live birds visiting in classrooms. It could be a child’s first chance to learn about birds! We’ll be part of a team called “Subspecies” going birding on Wednesday, May 3, throughout California’s Santa Clara Valley. We’ll hope to see more birds than any other team, raise more money than anybody else, and compete for a prize. In our 4-hour Birdathon window, we’ll hope to see up to 100 different species and subspecies between the baylands, urban areas, riparian habitat, and open spaces. Donating is easy. The simplest way is to go to the Subspecies team page. When there, look for my wife’s name, Carolyn Straub, and click on the green Donate button under her name, and voila! From there, just use a credit/debit card, or PayPal account, to donate as much as you are able. If you don’t have a credit card but still wish to donate by check, please send me a Kosmail and I’ll give you our snail-mail address. Please note that the donation deadline is Sunday, May 7. And of course, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit. Any donations made are tax deductible if you have itemized tax deductions. Thank you again for your past donations, and please help us out again. Money raised goes to a great cause, and the birds (and kids) really need your help! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/16/2163030/-Dawn-Chorus-Crane-Fly-in-and-2023-Audubon-Fundraiser Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/