Nykole King
Regina Leader-Post
An unusual sight at Regina’s Wascana Lake has been catching the attention of local bird enthusiasts.
A sandhill crane took up residence this spring on the marshy waters near the Broad Street Bridge and decided to stick around, thus creating a stir among bird watchers — a.k.a. birders — as they flock to the park for a rare up-close look.
Recent cooling temperatures have some wondering if the feathered guest will migrate before another harsh Saskatchewan winter arrives.
What is a sandhill crane?
Sandhill cranes have a grey body with a distinctive red crown and a long black beak to go with their long legs and neck. The birds stand about one-metre tall and have a wingspan roughly double their height.
The Sandhill crane is one of two species types found in Saskatchewan, with the other being the endangered whooping crane.
Flocks migrate across North America and breed in the northern part of the province each spring, says Ryan Fisher, curator of vertebrate zoology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.
The lanky bird winters around northern Mexico, passing over Regina from mid-September to the end of October. Its bugle-like call is a comforting seasonal reminder for many birders.
“It (says) we’re getting close to winter but there’s still some nice weather ahead,” says the avian researcher.
The first sighting
Dan Sawatzky was at Wascana Lake on April 11 when he lifted his head toward the sky and admired hundreds of cranes flying overhead for spring migration.
One of those birds then dropped out from the flock in a controlled downward spiral. Sawatzky — a soon-to-be retired biologist specializing in birds — followed the sandhill crane to where it landed on the other side of the lake, near the Saskatchewan Science Centre.
“I noticed that it had a drooping wing then,” he recalls. “So it couldn’t keep up with the flock and I think it had just dropped out at the best kind of habitat that it saw.”
Sawatzky has gone back to see the bird eight times since then.
Although it’s rare for cranes to touch down within a city, this one has remained on that patch of water for over five months.
“It’s neat that so many people got such a good look at a sandhill crane,” says the local bird enthusiast. “They’re (usually) half a kilometre away out in a wheat field somewhere.”
Catching the crane
The Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan (WRSOS), which operates a provincial helpline and rescues and transports injured wildlife to rehabilitation centres, has received calls from concerned residents since spring.
The non-profit organization sent out a team to try and catch the bird and transport it to a rehab that could examine it, but it eluded them.
“We quickly found out that this crane is flighted enough, maybe not to leave or migrate or leave very far, but it can still fly enough to evade captures,” notes WRSOS executive director Bonnie Dell.
What will happen in winter?
Fisher says the bird may just naturally depart on its southbound journey.
“The hope is that it’ll see other sandhill cranes flying over Regina and decide it’s time to go south,” Fisher says. “But we’ll probably know that in a few weeks.”
If the crane doesn’t take flight, there is a chance it may be able to survive the winter.
“Some (birds) adapt and they make it through a winter miraculously if they’re by open water and they can get enough to eat,” adds Dell.
Residents keeping watch over the bird can call WRSOS or the Salthaven West Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre if it shows signs of distress.
