Sandhill Crane Festival 2020!!

The new barn quilt at Creamers!

Our good friends and collaborative partners, the Friends of Creamer's Field, are hosting a virtual celebration of fall migration by honoring the Sandhill Cranes and other migratory birds that use Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge as an important stop-over site on their migration south. Places like Creamer's that offer habitat that provide abundant and quality food and a safe place to rest are key to helping birds complete a successful migration. In addition to the phenomenal physical feat, birds face a multitude of hazards on their journey including collisions with power-lines, glass windows, wind turbines, and automobiles. You can do your part to help birds this fall and everyday by making your windows more visible, placing feeders in safe locations, and keeping domestic cats indoors or on leashes (click here to get more details on how to be a bird hero).

Our work at the banding station provides critical data to the large puzzle of bird migration. We are the farthest north banding station in North America (29 years and counting) and located in the "bird nursery" of North America; did you know that the boreal forest that we call home is the breeding grounds for nearly half of all North American bird species (over 300 species!). By collecting information from birds at or close to their breeding locations or natal origins we are able to provide insight into the beginning stages of many species journey south - population trends, the timing of stop-over, habitat associations, and movement timing for a variety of species.

Migration is probably one of the most difficult activities that many birds undertake, and we're especially excited to celebrate migration with you all; we hope you'll join us virtually at the various events occurring August 21st to 23rd (more information here)! In honor of the festival, we'd love to kick off our "Ask-a-Bander" series by answering one of our top questions: what's the biggest bird you've ever caught?  Watch the video below for the answer! 

~Claire