I had a wonderful opportunity to watch and photograph a pair of Sandhill Cranes at a local lake inside Yellowknife city limits.
I’ve seen Sandhills numerous times but I have never seen their mating performances! These large birds can dance and leap with the best of them!
Sandhill Cranes mate for life, and choose their partners based on dancing displays. Displaying birds stretch their wings, pump their heads, bow, and leap into the air. I didn’t realize that both birds participate in this display behaviour. I assumed that it would be the male dancing to impress the female. From my observation, it appears that everyone was up for the dancing!
It was not a quiet affair either. The dancing was accompanied by the unique singing voices of the cranes as they performed for each other. I’m not sure how one measures success but the pair moved along the lake shore together and spent time feeding in the shallow waters.
It was quite the sight to see! That’s all for this week, thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos.