The reason sandhill cranes fly in circles is to gain altitude.
When a sandhill crane takes off from the ground around mid day the sandhill crane will start flapping until they find a thermal of warm air rising from the ground.
Then the sandhill crane circles in the thermal of warm air to gain the altitude needed.
The migration route of sandhill cranes is a 75 mile stretch of Nebraska's Platte River during spring migration.
In the early spring the sandhill cranes will migrate north and then can be seen in a variety of states in the Midwest and West, which includes Indiana, Montana, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and New Mexico.
Sandhill cranes are endangered because of wetland loss and development as well as habitat loss.
Two subspecies of sandhill cranes are also federally listed as being endangered on the endangered species list.
A group of sandhill cranes is called a Sedge.
Sandhill Cranes form extremely large flocks—into the tens of thousands—on their wintering grounds and during migration and they most often migrate very high in the sky.
Sandhill cranes are called ribeye in the sky because they have the best tasting meat of all wild game birds.
Sandhill cranes jump up and down to show off how they are able to defend their nest from predators.
Sandhill cranes and other cranes mate for life and will dance together year round and before the sandhill cranes dance they hop and flap their wings and squawk.
At night sandhill cranes sleep standing in shallow water which does not come up above their heads.
Sandhill cranes also love the area they sleep in at night to be free from any trees or other cover for at least 100 yards around them and some sandhill cranes will even roost on dry ground.
Sandhill cranes are webless migratory game birds which also includes, dove,s rails, woodcock, pigeons, gallinules, coot, snipe and moorphen.
Sandhill cranes migrate to places such as Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Texas in the winter.
The difference between a sandhill crane and a whooping crane is that Sandhill cranes stand nearly 5 feet tall and whooping cranes or even taller than Sandhill cranes.
Sandhill Cranes are slightly smaller than Whooping Cranes and they are slate gray rather than white.
When a crane is in your yard it means justice and retribution and the Crane visiting you may also indicate that you will rectify a wrong, get closure over a troubling event and expose someone.
Also in legends the Crane has always been a metaphor for witnessing wrongdoings and bringing culprits to justice.
A Crane is bigger than a heron as the Crane is very large and a heron is a medium to large bird.
The Crane however is taller and with a shorter neck and beak than a heron.
You can tell the difference between a heron and a Crane by looking at their necks.
The difference between herons and cranes are the Cranes' necks are a shorter than those of herons, and they typically hold them straight.
This is particularly obvious when the birds are flying.
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognized species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons.
Herons live in Marshes, swamps, shores, tideflats. Very adaptable.
Forages in any kind of calm fresh waters or slow-moving rivers, also in shallow coastal bays.
Nests in trees or shrubs near water, sometimes on ground in areas free of predators.
Herons are sociable birds when nesting, invariably nesting in long-established heronries.
Most heronries are in trees, with the majority of nests at least 25m above the ground.
However, reed-bed heronries are not unusual, and they will also nest on cliffs, bushes, sometimes even on buildings of bridges.
Most herons will eat 1 to 4 fish per day depending on how hungry the heron is that day or at that time.
The heron might come get 1 or 2 fish at a time and then eat those fish and then come back later when the heron is hungry again and eat some more fish.
I've seen a heron eat 2 fish when they were ready to eat the fish.
The heron got one fish and ate the fish and then went for another fish again and ate that fish and then took off.
I'm not sure if that fish ever came back again but it likely did the same evening or at least the next day.
The heron will eat as many fish as it wants too or needs to so it satisfies it's hunger.
Once the heron is not hungry anymore the heron will stop eating the fish and wait until they are hungry again.