An evening with the cranes

I signed up for an evening program at Navarino Nature Center, about 40 minutes west of Green Bay, to see the sandhill cranes congregate at the end of the day in early October. We arrived at the nature center barely in time right at 6 PM and the group hurried out to the trailhead overlooking Pikes Peak flowage. There were many cranes calling when we arrived- they tend to congregate in larger groups this time of year to prepare to move south when conditions warrant. We saw a later stage of migration a few years ago down on the Wisconsin River with Aldo Leopold Foundation. 

We walked about half of a mile up a ridge trail to an observation deck. Our guide was the director of the center who shared lots of details about the nature center upcoming events, the wildlife area, and the cranes. At dusk, many of the cranes flew right over our heads to find a spot in the flowage for the night. There were up to a couple of thousand cranes, along with lots of geese and mallards in the wetlands. It was a nice evening to just watch it get dark and enjoy the sounds of the marsh. As it was finally getting dark, we walked the trail back to the vehicles and were on our way back to the old grind.