The first baby sandhill crane hatched late this afternoon! It has been punishingly hot and dry for days but those elegant birds stuck to their job, trading places twice each day. Sometimes it was so hot the bird on the nest would gracefully arise, step out into the moat surrounding the nest and sink neck deep in the cool water for a few moments. This is when I could see the two eggs I had started to think were duds.
Today there was red in the dawn sky and rain was forcast for the afternoon. I noticed that both birds were in close attendance. As the huge dark thunderheads rolled in I went down with my binoculars and there it was! The first chick. Her name is Roberta, after Bob, the dad. (I have no idea what gender this chick is, of course, and probably neither do the parents.) This is probably the cutest of all baby birds I have ever seen with the possible exception of penguins. This chick is very small, about ten inches tall and is covered with fluffy strawberry blonde down. Her fuzzy wings hang down like a baby's arms in a snowsuit with mittens. The mom, Emily, still has the other egg to hatch so she tries to keep the chick under her wings, but I see it peeking out from time to time.
I had to leave the scene when the thunderstorms swept over. When can I stop worrying about these birds? This evening with everything seeming new and green from the rain, I went back to see how the crane family had fared in the storm. Roberta was teetering on the edge of the nest, Emily was doing some housekeeping, flipping pieces of straw on the nest, rearranging things. Bob was poking at his chick to keep it from getting in the moat. Emily turned over the remaining egg, gathered in the chick and settled down. Bob was standing by for the approaching night. The birds don't seem to mind me watching them and let me get quite close.
In the distance of the pond an otter turned over and over in the shallows and the wood ducks with their wonderful colors glided among the water lilies. A kingfisher buzzed the water's surface. Only missing from this scene in the Peaceable Kingdom was my grandson Quincy who has been as interested as I in the crane family and who has spent so much time with me (and his plastic binoculars) looking at birds and the natural world.
The vegetable garden must appreciate the natural rain. This morning Andy brought great loads of hay to replenish the mulch. He took out all the huge collards, now with stems eight inches in diameter, and some of the broccoli gone to seed and threw them all over the fence for the cows. I tied up the gourds, tomatoes and cukes. Everything is like the Little Shop of Horrors, so large and fruitful. I found a zuchini bigger than a cricket bat and picked several pounds of beans and a bale of swiss chard. So far there are no major bugs on the tomatoes, always the biggest challenge. Discovering the screening trick over the lettuce beds was key to having lots of lettuce still for our salads.
Perhaps to morrow I will be able to have a photo of the baby crane. It was too dark when I last looked.
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