Sandhill cranes make stopover in Southcentral Alaska before fall migration takes flight

Sightings of sandhill cranes have ticked upward in Southcentral Alaska this month as the fall migration season nears. Mated pairs have been spotted in a few Anchorage residential neighborhoods and along the coastal mudflats.

Alaska has a special connection to the tall birds. It provides breeding grounds for two populations in North America, according to Mark D. Ross, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist.

“Alaska is the birthplace of nearly half the North American cranes, the sandhill cranes,” Ross said.

Although cranes are considered one of the most threatened families of birds, sandhill crane populations are thriving. The mid-continent population, about half of which migrates to Alaska’s Interior, west and north, numbers more than 1.25 million birds in a 2023 count, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Pacific Coast population, which summers in the Cook Inlet, Alaska Peninsula and Bristol Bay regions, numbers closer to 42,000, according to a Pacific Flyway Council report.

Spotted up close, sandhill cranes make for an entertaining wildlife viewing experience. The omnivores can be observed hunting insects and rodents. Pairs sometimes perform lively courting behaviors as they flap, hop and bow toward their mates. In the fall, larger groups convene to migrate to warmer places. The Pacific Coast cranes head to California’s Central Valley while the mid-continent birds winter in Texas and Mexico.

“The mid-continent population is the longest migration of any of the 15 crane species, from north-central Mexico to a thousand miles deep into Arctic Siberia,” Ross said.

In Fairbanks, Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge has proven a predictable stopover place for migrating crane families at the end of summer. “Numbers are building now, and we’ll have 2,000-plus by Sept. 1,” Ross said Wednesday.

To celebrate the season, Creamer’s Field will host the 27th Annual Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival from Aug. 23-25. The event features various speakers, artists and crane observation activities.