The Sandhill Crane Lands in East Tennessee

Recently I was able to go to Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in East Tennessee. It is approximately 30 miles north of Chattanooga and lies at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers. It is also a winter migration stop-over destination for Sandhill Cranes (Grus Canadensis). The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) manages the area and has an observation platform there.

Migratory Sandhill Crane reside there from as early as late-October to as long as late-March each year. So if you would like to see Sandhill Crane, along with eagles and a few whooping crane, this might be a destination for you. 

To get there you might want to consult TWRA’s website: tnwatchablewildlife.org. I’ve included a photo of the intersection of Blythe’s Ferry Road and Shadden Road. The view is of Blythe’s Ferry Road from Shadden Road. Turning right, and following signs takes you to the observation platform on Priddy Road. The platform is open during daylight. Turning left takes you to the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park and beyond the park, Blythe’s Ferry on the Tennessee River. The museum building is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

 Both the wildlife observation platform and the memorial park provide an educational opportunity to students of American History and specifically the period of time during Presidents Jackson and VanBuren and to students of migratory wildlife. Both are free.

 

You may recall I wrote a post pertaining Sandhill Cranes in 2009 (May 2, 2009). The images of Sandhill Crane included in that post were of non-migratory Sandhill Cranes on the west coast of Florida. As a point of review, many of the photos were of  a pair of Sandhill Cranes sitting on a nest in which a colt was hatched.

The Sandhill Crane is a spectacular gray bird, standing 4 to 5 feet tall with a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet. They weight 10-15 pounds. The call is best described a bugling or trumpeting and can be heard at distance. On the day I was there, a single whooping crane was in the field with the Sandhill Cranes. Most notably it has a scarlet red cap on its head. The population midday was guesstimated to be 3000 birds. Toward evening and early morning the number may be ten-fold at 30,000 birds. They can be seen feeding in the marsh areas, and adjacent grain field. They eat seeds, berries, grains, insects, worms, amphibians and small mammals. As a species, Sandhill Cranes are long-lived (living 20 years of more). Their reproduction rate is considered low with only one nest in 3 producing a chick that survives. A nest will consists of only 1 to 2 eggs. A pair of Sandhill Crane mate for life. The migratory Sandhill Cranes that winter or stop-over in Tennessee nests in the Great Lakes region of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Blythe’s Ferry on the Tennessee River is historic from the standpoint that it is the general site where Cherokee Indians crossed the river in their forced migration to Oklahoma. On the day of my visit I encountered a bird enthusiast with a spotting scope who kindly pointed out 5 American Eagles just up-stream.

 

The area in Tennessee I visited providing suitable Sandhill Crane winter habitat is located in back water of Chickamauga dam. According to one source the area became a wintering stop-over site in the 1990s.  This made me wonder, “Did Sandhill Crane use the area before the reservoir was created in 1940?” At the observation platform I encountered another bird observer who believed Native Americans who lived in the area before their removal used the long, straight Sandhill Crane bills for either ornamental or utilitarian purposes. If this is true, Sandhill Cranes may have wintered in the area prior to the 1990s. It appeared to me that the bill of a Sandhill Crane could do considerable damage to anyone attempting to molest a bird.

 

You may also recall that in November of 2013 the TWRA established a hunting season on Sandhill Crane in Southeast Tennessee. The season began Thanksgiving Day and was to close January 1, 2014. Permits, stamps and licenses were required, limit hunters to three birds and requires hunters not to hunt within the refuge.  

The hunt was controversial due to the fact the Eastern Population of Sandhill Cranes had declined significantly to only 25 breeding pairs in the 1930s. Fortunately, migratory Sandhill Crane populations have recovered to over 85,000 birds.

 

The Tennessean newspaper reported on January 10, 2014 that 118 Sandhill Crane were ‘bagged’ in the first season although 1200 harvest tags were issued. TWRA officials found no evidence that the birds would be scared from the area, noting that hunting does not occur within the refuge, only outside of it. Hunters reported that the bird is difficult to hunt because “one day they fly one direction, the next day another.”

 

For those interested, a Sandhill Crane Festival is held annually near the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. This year (2014) it is scheduled the weekend of January 18-19, 2014 in the Birchwood community. It is a celebration of thousands of sandhill cranes and numerous other water fowl. The nearby Cherokee Removal Memorial will host Native American performances and demonstrations on both Saturday and Sunday.

 

 

 

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and other agencies provide considerable information on the Sandhill Crane which is available on the web.

Scripture

God set the birds to fly above the earth and across the expanse of the heavens. He created them all. Genesis 1.20-21

Man may eat any clean bird. Deuteronomy 14.11

The great sea creatures, beasts and birds praise the Lord. Psalm 148.7-10

The stork, swallow and crane keep the time of their migration, but people do not know the rules of God. Jeremiah 8.7

The birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap. Matthew 6.26