Heinz and Trudi Walter used to live near Hillside Lake in Wappingers and are now residents of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.   Heinz is a retired IBMer who found an "after regular life" job.   He is now a resident caretaker of an estate on the Snake River in truly a magnificent place in the world.  He and Trudi enjoy their position and the great outdoors.  (My husband and I have been very grateful to have been their friends for many years, our children grew up together and we have been privileged to visit them in their present wonderful river and mountain cottage.)

Sandhill Cranes at Their Nest Note the Canada Goose chicks in the nest with two Sandhill Crane eggs; possibly "widowed" mother goose looking on. Click for larger image

Here is the Walters' intriguing story:

For at least the last three years we have had the Sandhill Cranes nesting in the same spot on our pond.  We understand that Sandhills are very loyal to their territory and continue returning, hence we believe it is the same pair year after year.  For at least a couple years Canada Geese also have nested almost next to the Sandhills on the little island - a big tree and other vegetation separated the respective nests.

To our knowledge, the Sandhills have not hatched any colts at this location even though we have always observed two eggs on the nest.  We have taken many pictures over time and have tried to minimize their time off the nest.   We have discussed this apparent nesting failure with our Game & Fish bird biologist - particularly when the birds sit on the eggs seemingly forever, especially when a month has passed by (can't remember right now their exact incubation period - I think it's around 28 days). Both male and female share the nest sitting and we see them flying in and out at the changeover time.

This year while checking the site from the canoe, we saw one of the Sandhills sitting on the Canada Goose nest while the other one sat on their nest.  When the first Sandhill stood up, there were 3 or 4 goslings under it in the nest and they scurried off with the Sandhill toward the Sandhill nest.  The goose mother was near by - we think something happened to the male goose since the goose mother wandered off at times apparently to feed, hence the nest takeover by the Sandhill.

The actual picture was taken another day.  We had not seen the goslings that day but both Sandhills were on/near their nest and a Canada Goose was swimming nearby.  When the Sandhill on the nest stood up, there were the goslings under her along with the eggs.  We photographed as quickly as possible and as luck would have it we came to the end of the film.

Another time we observed the goslings going off into the reeds with the Sandhill to feed.  Meantime, we believe that the goose mother lost continuity with her brood and we do not know what eventually happened with the goslings and their relationship with the Sandhills.  First one egg disappeared and we can only guess and hope that it may have hatched - we did see eggshell fragments around the nest and in the water.  The second egg eventually got punctured and stunk to high heaven (due to being infertile and having been incubated forever - like 1½ months before meeting its demise).

It is our hope that the Sandhills will return this year and have a productive hatch which we hope to be able to document without interfering with their fragile environment.

We appreciate the interest in this. We are blessed to be so close to these wonderful happenings."