CRANES : Family Gruidae 



cranes are scarce and wary, and it is difficult to obtain any evidence on 

 their status in Oregon without killing a number of birds, a thing that 

 any ornithologist, in view of the few birds remaining, is loath to do. 



Sandhill Crane: 



Grus canadensis tabida (Peters) 



DESCRIPTION. "Crown and lores naked except for scattered black bristles; cheeks 

 and jaw well feathered. Adults: whole plumage slaty gray or light brownish, wings 

 darker; cheeks and throat lighter and sometimes whitish. Young: head entirely 

 feathered; plumage rusty brown." (Bailey) Downy young: "The small downy young 

 crane is complecely covered with thick, soft down and is very prettily colored. The 

 color is deepest in the centers of the crown, hind neck and back and on the wings, 

 where it is 'chestnut' or 'burnt sienna'; it shades off on the sides to 'ochraceous 

 tawny' and on the throat and belly to dull grayish white." (Bent) (See Plate 

 36, A) Si%e: "Length 40-48, wing zi.oo-zz.5o, bill 5.15-6.00, tarsus 9.90-10.65." 

 (Bailey) Nest: A bulky mass of marsh vegetation with a slight depression in the 

 top. Eggs: i to 3, almost always z, olive buff or drab, spotted with varying shades 

 of brown (Plate 36, B). 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Mani- 

 toba south to California, Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, and Ohio. Winters 

 south into Mexico. In Oregon: Formerly common summer resident of eastern 

 Oregon, particularly of Klamath, Lake, and Harney Counties, from late March to 

 October. Elsewhere, migrant only, all of our own records from outside breeding 

 territory being in April, September, and October. Now much diminished in num- 

 bers and only occasionally noted, except in breeding areas. 



THE SANDHILL CRANE, most majestic of the wading birds, was first re- 

 ported as a breeding bird by Bendire (1875) at Malheur Lake. Lewis and 

 Clark (1814) recorded it as wintering near the mouth of the Columbia in 

 1805 and 1806, surely a mistake, as there are no other records of the species 

 remaining so far north during the winter. Mearns (1879) stated that 

 Wittich found it breeding at Fort Klamath, and Merrill (1888) also 

 reported it as a breeding bird. Willett (1919) estimated that about ^ 

 pairs bred in the vicinity of Malheur Lake in 1918, and Prill (192.4) esti- 

 mated 36 pairs bred in Warner Valley in 192.3. These numbers have 

 further diminished in recent years, but a few pairs still breed in those 

 areas. Our earliest date is March 18; our latest, November n (both 

 Harney County). Approximately 100 pairs still nest on the great cattle 

 ranches of the Blitzen Valley and in the area east of the Steens Mountains, 

 but this is a rapidly disappearing species so far as Oregon is concerned. 



The Sandhill Crane formerly was reported by various observers as a 

 common migrant in the Willamette Valley, but in recent years the sound 

 of the raucous call of a flock of these huge waders passing far overhead 

 in Indian file is sufficient to make the occasion a red-letter day for a 

 western Oregon observer. The flight is steady and seemingly heavy, but 

 it is really quick and swift for so ponderous a body. While in the air, 



