The sandhills are back.

Cranes have returned to Crex Meadows and are busy on the ice. This pair has selected a corner of Grettum Flowage to raise a family. If you look closely you can see a band on the female's leg. I contacted David Fronczak (Migratory Bird Management) who said this bird was hand raised at Necedah NWR in 2011 as part of a whooping crane project. Necedah is about 200 miles southeast of Grantsburg. What a story she could tell!

Technical: Recorded with Canon C100 using 100-400mm lens.