This spring, here in Michigan, something quite unexpected happened. It started out as it always does in early April, with the sandhill cranes preparing their nest. A week later, they laid their first egg and then a second egg appeared. The devoted parents incubated both eggs and in early May the first egg hatched. This is where the unexpected turn occurred.
Ilene Karlsberg-Gerstein of Clermont, Florida, was driving down the road last Wednesday when she came across two sandhill cranes dancing with each other. After she pulled out her phone to shoot video of the scene, Karlsberg-Gerstein found that the cranes were dancing beautifully to the song playing in her car, "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran.
The Hula is an agricultural region located in northern Israel with abundant fresh water. It is a major stopover for various birds’ migration path along the Syrian-African Rift Valley between Africa, Europe, and Asia. An estimated half a billion birds are passing through the Hula Valley every year.
On March 23, I was in Kearney, Nebraska to view and photograph the annual migration of the Sandhill cranes. These birds are graceful, awkward, beautiful and kooky all at the same time. They fly with grace, but while on the ground sometimes exhibit some of the funniest behaviors you'll see from a bird. With a wingspan of up to 7 feet, these birds aren't the biggest, but they're some of the biggest most of us will get to see.