It was a repeat performance for the sandhill cranes at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, earlier in May. Last year, my brother and I visited the park in my old hometown in northwestern Pennsylvania and were surprised to see sandhill cranes. Indeed, it was the first year the cranes attempted to nest at Presque Isle, which is a peninsula jutting into Lake Erie. Here’s the story from last year.

This year, the cranes are back, and by the time we visited the park, they had two young ones (colts) with them. I saw them only from a distance, so the photos aren’t great, but they’re serviceable enough. See the colt in the lower right of the top and bottom photos. I returned home to New England a few days later, and I haven’t heard whether the cranes were successful in raising the colts, but I hope so.

Sandhill cranes have also been nesting in random spots throughout New England over the last few years.