Christy Yuncker Photo Journal

For millenia, the sonorous calls of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) have echoed across Goldstream Valley in Interior Alaska. When we moved from Vermont to 40 acres of taiga in this valley, we found that cranes had staked prior claim to the cranberry bog. The Alaska Sandhill Crane Blog and this website were born from our multi-year acquaintance with the crane couple whom we know as Millie and Roy.

Cranes are boisterous, statuesque, sometimes obvious, and often secretive. Year after year, a particular pair of cranes reappears in spring at its chosen nest site after heroic migrations that traverse natural barriers like the Himalayas or the Alaska Range and after evading man-made obstacles like electrical powerlines and shotguns. On nest territories, cranes broadcast over miles by resonant bugling and interact at close distances by soft purring and acrobatic dancing. Their elegant dancing, mate fidelity, and 20 year lifespans helped cranes become talismen for aboriginal peoples. The majesty of cranes inspired artistry in ancient and present-day civilizations - two examples are offered by hyperlinks in the right column of this webpage.

Crane-watching helps us replace 21st century hubris with quiet awe for the biological diversity that has evolved on this planet. Although cranes have long been venerated, the intimate world of cranes remains largely cryptic. We hope to better understand:

• education of  crane colts in the wild,
• social structure within breeding neighborhoods and flocks,
• information content of the signals that bind cranes to one another, and
• how they make decisions.

Please help us develop this website into a general information resource for crane biology and conservation. Take time to make nature a part of your personal world view. If you will email us your own observations, we will post them on the web so others can ponder your insights and questions.

Christy Yuncker and George Happ