large flocks stopover at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, near Jasonville and Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area in northwest Indiana. Both properties allow great viewing of these magnificent birds. I’ ve also watched them in corn stubble fields along Interstate 65 north of Seymour.
Years ago, I got a call from a group working with whooping crane reintroductions asking if I could suggest a Brown County field. The recovery team needed a place for the birds to spend the night along the same migration route used by sandhills. The whooping cranes numbers were at concerned status. An ultralight aircraft led the whoopers. These birds originated in western Wisconsin and traveled to Florida that fall. It was a treat was to see these magnificent birds up close. Now my trips to see sandhills include a hopeful sighting of whoopers, their numbers now encouraging.
Back home, I pull down my old copy of Sand County Almanac and read again Aldo Leopold’ s account. The crane was a bird of mystery and delight to this biologist and scientist. His poetic essays lift the reader by sharing thoughts on biology, history, and the crane’ s endurance on earth. Regarding the marsh where they land,“ an endless caravan of generations that has built of its own bones this bridge into the future, this habitat where the oncoming host may again, live, breed, and die”.
Of what value is the existence of this great bird? Does it deserve more attention than the equally impressive event of a scarlet tanager or wood thrush completing its annual trip? Are birds in general, and cranes, mere indicators of the health and longevity of our natural environment, despite its decline? Do they hold a message?
“ Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language. The quality of cranes lies, I think, in this higher gamut, as yet beyond the reach of words”.— Aldo Leopold •
To inquire about this or other articles, contact the author at: jpeagleman @ gmail. com
Brown County Model Trains
Trains: Electric, Wooden, and Christmas
Magnets • Puzzles • Local Preserves • Kid-Friendly 75 S. Jefferson St. • Antique Alley • 317-783-6726
Stoneware pottery handmade in Brown County, Indiana
812-398-8010 www. HollyPots. com
Main Street Shoppes( Old School Way) 59 E. Main St. Suite G. • Nashville
The Totem Post
78 S. Van Buren St. Nashville, IN 812-988-2511 TheTotemPost. com
~ Since 1952 ~
• Genuine Native American Jewelry
• Zuni Fetishes
• Sterling Silver Jewelry
• Copper Jewelry
• Minnetonka Moccasins
• Pendleton • Knives
~ Open all year ~
COMMON GROUNDS
COFFEE BAR It’ s like a coffee shop in a living room( with things to amuse you)
Hot, Cold & Frozen Drinks • Selection of Teas Froothies( our fruit smoothies)
Famous for Cheesy Eggs & Toast • Pastries • Quiche
66 N. Van Buren, Nashville( Molly’ s Lane behind the red door) Opens 8:00 am M-Sat; 9:00 am Sun( Closed Wed) 812-988-6449
March / April 2025 • Our Brown County 59