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Cranes Flying South. Winter Cannot Be Far Away


David Davis
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Every autumn, those harbingers of winter, the Common European Crane fly over my house. Thousands turned up yesterday afternoon on their way to their wintering grounds in the South of Spain and North Africa. In the spring they fly north to their breeding grounds in Russia and Scandinavia but rarely over my house. Different atmospheric conditions I suppose.

 

These were filmed by a friend in the next village.

 

 https://www.facebook.com/dominique.labbekohler/videos/2218912221816959/?notif_id=1730784153124088&notif_t=close_friend_activity&ref=notif

 

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The link doesn't work for me. I also tried removing all the tracking bumpf (after the question mark) but then got video no longer available.  Never mind... I already know what they look, and sound like, I think the local term for them here is cri-cri's, a bi-yearly event, going and coming back.

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1 hour ago, FlyinFlynn said:

The link doesn't work for me. I also tried removing all the tracking bumpf (after the question mark) but then got video no longer available.  Never mind... I already know what they look, and sound like, I think the local term for them here is cri-cri's, a bi-yearly event, going and coming back.

 

You're quite right FF but a few days ago my tame computer engineer rigged up a way of putting pictures from my phone onto something called the iCloud and after a few false steps I managed to download a picture of the cranes as they flew over my house yesterday afternoon. Sorry about the electricity cable. These birds must be the rear echelon. According to the dates on other pictures in my folder, we normally see them in early October. We rarely see them flying north again in the spring. Different meteorological conditions I suppose.

 

 

Cranes flying over the house 4th Nov 2024.JPG

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Some of them need to go back to flight school so they can maintain a single 'V' 🙂

 

We get the same with Canada Geese - huge flocks that you can hear coming from a fair distance away as they seem to be in constant discussion - "come on Ginger, tighten up, you're losing formation.....we don't want any Gulls sneaking in!"

Edited by GrumpyGnome
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1 hour ago, GrumpyGnome said:

Some of them need to go back to flight school so they can maintain a single 'V' 🙂

 

We get the same with Canada Geese - huge flocks that you can hear coming from a fair distance away as they seem to be in constant discussion - "come on Ginger, tighten up, you're losing formation.....we don't want any Gulls sneaking in!"

 

Frequently the birds in the smaller V insert themselves one at a time into the larger V. It's quite fascinating to watch.

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It does really beg the question why do they form up on an echelon, it can't be for better gun coverage!. Once that has been answered why do get one bird decide to stagger the formation? There is always at least one stagger. I would imagine there is quite some wing turbulence from the bird in front but it can only be on one side so why? These are quite big birds.

We also occasionally get huge flocks of starlings around dusk, they don't form an echelon, they just form a swarm and then suddenly they all dive down and they are gone.

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It reduces drag on the following birds. There are peer reviewed research papers on the subject. 
Where I am in western France we get the Storks migrating. Not all migrate, not all go the full hit north and south. Complicated.
A couple of years ago, I was on high ground, and saw a large squadron coming north, 50 to 60. Big birds, fantastic glide efficiency. They came to an area where exposed stone produces lift, and they entered, (I use it for my thermal soarers) producing what looked like a flower pot of birds. They climbed for about a 1000 or so meters, and exited, reforming the V as they exited, and off they went north. 
I did not see a wing beat for as long as I watched, and I was mesmerised for 20 minutes.

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