Conservation coalition camera captures covert crane customs

A steady wind rolls across the landscape, whistling through the spring growth near a nest, as a sandhill crane named Athena scans the horizon for threats and cares for her recently laid egg.

These are the moments that normally take place out of site, but thanks to the Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition’s Sandhill Crane Nest Camera, we now can witness the normally secretive rituals of these birds.

“They’re more secretive when they’re nesting,” said Nancy Merrill, president and co-founder of the Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition. “As far as we know, our camera is the only live streaming camera on a crane nest, and from a scientific point of view, we have learned a lot of things that we didn’t know before.”

The 2023 Nest Camera is active right now and is focused on the nest of Athena and Rocky. The couple has been incubating at least one egg. Merrill said that if everything goes well, that egg is expected to hatch around May 22.

Read more at steamboat.com.

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