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always for the community VOL 24 NO 11
November 2019
www.valleysentinel.com
SPOTLIGHT
Happy Thanksgiving from The Valley Sentinel
Apollo 11 at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum—USS Hornet in the Limelight By Bob Fish
It was a memorable evening at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum auditorium in Washington, DC on October 22. In spite of the Washington Nationals baseball team playing in
ECRWSS
Postmaster: Dated Material
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID DANVILLE, CA PERMIT NO. 70
See HORNET page 11
The Sandhill Crane is coming to town By James M. Hale
One of our most elegant and conspicuous winter visitors to the refuges and farmlands in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys - the state’s great Central Valley- is the tall, migratory Greater Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis tabida). Its loud trumpetlike call is audible over long distances. While conducting research in the high Sierra at 7,400 feet on several occasions, I heard thousands of Sandhill Cranes calling as they m i g ra t e d f ro m t h e i r s u m m e r breeding grounds on their way to their wintering habitat. They were barely visible thousands of feet above the Sierra crest in expansive, V-shaped flocks. The pale, silver gray adults with a bare, red crown stand almost 5 feet tall. Their wings span almost 7 feet. Adults may weigh more than 15 pounds. The adult plumage
often becomes stained rusty from iron oxides in the water. Immature birds have reddish -brown plumage and lack the red crown. Sexes look alike. A bustle of shaggy feathers h a n g s ove r t h e r u m p o f standing birds. In flight, with slow downbeat wing strokes and quick upstrokes, the neck and legs are fully extended. Six subspecies have been recognized in recent times. The Sandhill Crane has one of the oldest and longest fossil histories of any bird still found today. A 10 million year old crane fossil from Nebraska may be a prehistoric relative or the direct ancestor. The oldest definitive Sandhill Crane fossil is 2.5 million years old, over one and a half times older than the earliest remains of most living species of birds.
A single, life size Native A m e r i c a n M a r t i s c u l t u re sandhill crane petroglyph in the Sierra on a granite boulder may be thousands of years old and the only one identifi ed to date. Sandhill Cranes are social birds that are usually encountered in pairs or family groups through the year and during the breeding season. During migration and winter, large flocks of non-related birds gather to forage and roost together. Sometimes thousands congregate at these sites. Sandhill Cranes are mainly herbivorous as they forage for seeds and other plant material in shallow wetlands and various upland habitat. Cultivated grains such as corn, rice, wheat, and sorghum support large
This Month’s Special Sections Sentinel Newspapers, Inc. P.O. Box 130 Danville, CA 94526 925-820-6047
Holiday Happenings Senior Living page 10
pages 8-9
numbers of cranes in the Great Valley and Sacramento - San Joaquin delta during winter. B e r r i e s, s m a l l m a m m a l s, insects, snails, reptiles and amphibians supplement their diet. See CRANES page 5