The fields around Beachburg, Ontario are a gathering spot for sandhill cranes before they migrate south for the winter. A few years ago we travelled there in early November and found 50-60 cranes. This year in late October we found approximately 1,000 making a loud racket in a field.
But before we found them we had to deal with very thick fog, so thick in spots you couldn't see much more than 30-40 yards. So I contented myself with pictures of spider webs....
And ice crystals on clover
After an hour or so the fog started to lift, we could see a barn we had not seen before. One of the cows seemed to be wondering what was going on.
WIth some luck we soon found a field with about 1,000 sandhills in it. They were cleaning up a soy beans field for the farmer. Another much smaller flock was in a grassy field next to the soy bean field. (The first photo below is a portion of the flock)
Groups of 3-15 were flying back forth between other adjacent fields
A few were relatively close in a corn field
A few Canada geese were flying in to join the cranes
