SANDHILL CRANES ARE BACK!

We had tried to find a time between snowstorms to travel to the Platte River in Nebraska to see the great Sandhill Crane migration.  The weather, either here or there, thwarted our plans every time.  On March 20, the first day of spring, we decided to take a road trip to the (mostly frozen) Mississippi River instead.  We stopped in one of our favorite spots, the wildlife refuge at New Albin, Iowa.  We were looking at a merganser and while the car window was down to photograph him, we heard the unmistakeable call of the sandhills.  Much to our surprise and delight, they were back!  We hadn't expected them.  As is usually the case, we heard them before we saw them.  We found three mated pairs working the river area and also a group of about thirty standing far off in a field.