Sandhill Cranes of Whitewater Draw

After a day in the Chiricahua Mountains we continued to move west across southern Arizona to our next stop at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. Somewhere along the way of looking into potential destinations I had read that sandhill cranes overwinter there in large numbers so we decided to drop in and check it out.

We pulled in mid-day and took the only open campsite (there are four total). We immediately heard the cranes and noticed a few coming and going, so once we were set up we wandered down to the viewing area.

Yes, there were plenty of cranes here. It turns out that an estimated 20,000 cranes spend the winter here. There is a shallow wetland here that makes it an attractive place for them. We were told by several people that we talked to that the water was a fraction of its regular size due to ongoing drought and the fact that wildlife are unfortunately last in line when it comes to water rights.

Since it was mid-day there was a good portion of the cranes that had already returned from their early morning foraging, with more returning in large groups as the afternoon went on.

It gets downright noisy when another group of birds returns. I suppose it’s their form of air traffic control.

As the sun started to set there was an increased level of coming and going. Most of the cranes roost here for the night, but there were also several groups heading out in search of an evening meal.

The racket continued all night (in a good sort of way), interrupted occasionally by coyote howls. I’ve heard sandhills called ‘the ribeye of the sky’ and I assume the coyotes were working on getting their own tasty morsels. I don’t know if their howls were cries of success or failure.

Morning is really the time to be at Whitewater Draw. As the sun starts to rise huge flocks of cranes start to take off for a morning of foraging up and down the valley. It was nice to be able to stay a couple nights to watch the diurnal rhythm of them coming and going.

While not out watching the cranes we were back in camp soaking in the sun as the temperatures (reminder it is mid-December) reached into the upper 70’s. We met the most interesting character of the trip, John, who was staying for several days in another campsite. We got to hear John’s life story, quite and interesting one. He lives out of his converted short bus and stays long term at sites across Arizona and the rest of the west. He mentioned he was an artist as he told us his story. On our last day he invited us over to look at his portfolio of pencil drawings. I’ve never seen drawings quite as lifelike, full of detail, and quite simply amazing. He probably had 20 years of art in his bus, none of it for sale. In the end he ended up gifting us one of his drawings, our pick. He had one of three sandhill cranes. Of course we had to pick that one. We felt very lucky to have met John.

Sunrises and sunsets were spectacular at Whitewater Draw. The colors were spectacular, and it didn’t hurt that thousands of cranes were flying in and out as well.