By Delcenia Cosman

Homer Independent Press

The setting, late-summer sun cast golden light over the group gathered at the Beluga Slough picnic table Saturday. About a dozen people with binoculars, scopes and notebooks at the ready milled about, chatting easily with one another or sitting quietly at the table with eyes trained in turn on the sky above and the spanning sedge.

We awaited the cranes. 

Every year about this time, Kachemak Crane Watch hosts count days to compile an estimate of the local crane population ahead of the sandhill cranes’ fall migration south to California’s Central Valley. Led by KCW founder and longtime sandhill crane educator Nina Faust, in partnership with the Center for Alaska Coastal Studies and the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, count days are held across three Saturdays at the end of August and into the start of September. 

This Saturday, Sept. 5, is the final Crane Count Day of the year. Between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., report all crane sightings to Kachemak Crane Watch by emailing reports@cranewatch.org or calling 907-235-6262. Include the date, time, location, number of cranes (adults, colts and banded cranes) and details of the cranes’ activity in your report. Count Day Fly-Ins are held from 6 p.m. until sundown at the Beluga Slough.

I joined a crew of craniacs last weekend at the picnic table. Among the group were regular citizen scientists, birders and tourists of all experience and interest levels. While we waited for the first cranes to fly in (we might have started at 6 p.m., but the cranes don’t follow a human timetable), the gathering became an exchange of information and crane stories. I spent a very enjoyable first hour learning from Faust about KCW history and crane migration, behavior, parenting and predators. 

Faust still runs guided sandhill crane tours as property manager on the Inspiration Ridge Preserve, which consists of 693 acres of critical wildlife habitat now owned by CACS. Faust and her late husband, Edgar Bailey, built the preserve to save wildlife corridors, including the fields where dozens of sandhill cranes spend their summer days. 

The sandhill crane population which returns to the southern Kenai Peninsula year after year is increasing, Faust said. Locals are observing more juvenile cranes and more nesting spots about town. More than 750 hatched colts are known to have fledged between 2003 and 2025; Faust estimated there could be up to 1,000 cranes today between Anchor Point and Homer. 

The slough remains a predominant nighttime haunt for food and shelter, but Faust noted a surprising change that is prompting more volunteers to count cranes in new locations this Saturday.

“We’re going to have observers in Mariner Park Lagoon and in Mud Bay, because last weekend we had 37 (cranes) land here (in the slough), but we had 100 go over and they were landing on the other side,” Faust said. 

About 20 cranes were reported in Mariner Park on Aug. 22, and a volunteer counted 165 cranes in Mud Bay the next morning. Observers aren’t sure yet what’s causing them to go beyond the slough. AMNWR Visitor Center Manager Lora Haller posited the large Beluga Slough bald eagle population as one probable cause. 

Sandhill cranes’ top natural predator is the bald eagle, but coyotes, loose dogs, bears and even moose are also a concern. Faust said drones are a surprising new threat, and recounted a report from Anchor Point of someone harassing a crane nest with a drone just two weeks ago. 

With more cranes moving into town, Faust said busy roads and power lines can also pose safety concerns.

“As far as human hazards, those two things are the worst for cranes,” she said. “All over the United States, wildlife is moving into urban (and) suburban areas … due to habitat loss and urbanization. Animals have learned that they can adapt to living with humans.”

Suddenly one of the citizen scientists at the picnic table perked up. Several pairs of eyes began scanning the gold-tinted sky, and excited murmurs broke out as four cranes — two adults and two colts — came in for a landing in the marsh grass. 

We had been waiting for nearly two hours, but it was worth it. 

More crane families swooped and parachuted in over the next 90 minutes until sunset — groups of three, four or five at a time. Larger parties of nine or 11 sparked frantic counting and checks and re-checks between the observers. 

Watching the fledged colts attempt landing was especially entertaining.

“Maybe they hit the Salty Dawg on the way over,” someone joked at a particularly wobbly pair of colts negotiating the vertical drop to the slough.

Forty cranes in all — 29 adults and 11 colts — landed in the slough that evening. Faust said the total area count, including cranes in the slough and those that landed on the beach or elsewhere, was 77. Another counting location at Inspiration Ridge Preserve reported 75 cranes, including five colts, that went to roost in Beaver Flats, near Fritz Creek. 

All are welcome to join Crane Count Days. If you plan to join the picnic table crew, dress for the weather and bring binoculars or a scope if you have them. If you don’t, that’s perfectly fine. Citizen scientists are a friendly bunch and are always happy to bring newcomers into the fold.

Learn more by visiting Kachemak Crane Watch or the Kachemak Bay Birders online.