DVOC Main Page > Birding the Delaware Valley Region > Birds of the Delaware Valley > Species Description

Sandhill Crane
Grus canadensis

From DVOC's Delaware Valley Birds: "Agricultural fields and marshes. Increasing migrant. One nesting record, paired with an escaped Common Crane in Cumberland County, NJ."

Habitat:
Large freshwater wetlands; ploughed fields and harvested cornfields.

Status:
Rare. Migrants are regularly reported each year.
Spring: End of March through late May.
Fall: Beginning of September through late November.

Range:
Widely across the northern portion of central and western United States into Canada and Alaska. There is also a breeding population in Florida. Winters in the south west, along the gulf coast to Florida, southern Georgia and Mexico.


© A & J Binns

History: Accounts from the 17th and 18th century suggest that large numbers of Sandhill Cranes were regular winter visitors. By the mid 1800's numbers seemed to have dwindled and few record exists.

An adult found at Tuckerton on May 12th 1957 was probably the first NJ state record in over a century.

Winter records:
Oct 18 1969-Apr 1970 - Bombay Hook NWR, Kent County, DE
Feb 3rd-29th 1980 - Octoraro Reservoir, Lancaster County, PA
Dec 31st 1987 - Woodland Beach WA, Kent County, DE
Feb 1st, 1992 - Penn Manor, Bucks County, PA
Feb 2nd -March 13th 1997 - Middle Creek WMA, Lancaster County, PA
6 records during CBC's in (Salem, Cape May and Cumberland) New Jersey

Summer records:
3 records of birds remaining to summer in New Jersey

Additional Information:

Laurie Larson's account of the mixed breeding pair of Sandhill X Common Crane (Grus grus) that were found during the 1995 Breeding Bird Atlas research period in Salem County, New Jersey.

Best Locations: Southern New Jersey

Directions:
The sites of interest are on the border between Alloway Twp (Salem Co.) and Upper Deerfield Twp and Hopewell Twp (Cumberland Co), an area of mixed farms, tree nurseries, small woodlots and wetlands in the upper part of the Cohansey River watershed. Private land and fields should not be entered without permission; bird from roadsides only.

From the NJ Turnpike (Exit 1) or Interstate 295 (exit 2), take US Rt 40 east to the Pole Tavern traffic circle at NJ Rt. 77 (note the diner, convenience store, and gas stations here). Take Rt. 77 south approximately 6 miles to the town of Deerfield. Just past the Johnson Sod Farms on the left, turn right (west) on Friesburg Rd. Keep right when the road forks to reach Bostwick Lake, one of the sites where there is public access at a small park and where cranes have frequently been seen or heard.

The other fairly regular site is a cornfield near the intersection of Harmony Rd. and Seely Rd. From Rt. 77 in Deerfield, turn right (west) on County Road 540 perhaps one mile. Take the second left, on Seely Road; go less than a mile to the first intersection. This is Walters Road in the De Lorme atlas, but Harmony Rd. on the road sign.

The cornfield on the south side of Harmony Road (the east-west Harmony Road, that is called Walters Road in the NJ Atlas & Gazetteer P. 61 M26, just to the west of Seeley Road. Check a wet gully/depression just to the west of the house that is at the end of the cornfield. To check the gully go about 150 yards beyond the house and over the rise in the road, to the big horse farm. From that vantage point we could get a view into the gully.

South east of Walters & Harmony, the Cohansey River feeds into a large pond - DeLorme NJ Atlas & Gazetteer P.61 N27

Bostwick Lake, along the Alloway-Friesburg Rd - DeLorme NJ Atlas & Gazetteer P.61 L26.

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