Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition

Presenters of the Yampa Valley Crane Festival

Sandhill Crane Nest Camera

From start to finish, our live-streaming crane nest camera recorded the story of Rocky and Athena’s 2021 nesting season. We witnessed Athena lay two eggs and then we observed the incredible patience and care that both crane parents demonstrated incubating and protecting those eggs over the next 30+ days. While one egg successfully hatched and produced a robust chick, the second egg did not. In addition to the scientific knowledge gained from this project, the public enjoyed the opportunity to learn about Sandhill Crane nesting in an up-close and personal way during a time when the cranes are typically quite secretive and hard to observe.

We plan to repeat this project next year but we need your help. We would like to improve our equipment and add new equipment that will prevent shut-downs and provide a better viewing experience. A significant portion of labor and internet costs that were donated to us this year will have to be covered by CCCC for the 2022 project. To make that happen, we are undertaking a special campaign to try to raise $5,000 for the 2022 Crane Nest Camera project. We have an anonymous donor who will match the first $2,500 donated, dollar-for-dollar.

Please support CCCC’s efforts to educate the public about these remarkable birds and donate to the Sandhill Crane Nest Camera project!

Greater Sandhill cranes will return to the same general area every year to nest and typically build a nest in the same or similar spot. Nests are simple, mound-like platforms made of marsh plants, grasses and weeds piled on the ground in marshes or wet meadows. Sandhill cranes in Colorado usually lay two eggs in late April or early May and incubate these eggs for about 30 days. Both crane parents will help in incubating the eggs and caring for the young once they hatch. When the eggs hatch, sandhill crane chicks are able to see, are covered in down feathers, and are able to walk within a few hours. After about a day, the chicks will leave the nest with their parents.

Learn more about sandhill crane nesting by checking out our Nesting FAQs!

Athena and Rocky’s Nest

This nest was first discovered in 2020. We are unsure how old the parents are but to our knowledge 2020 was the first time they have nested in this area. In 2020, the parents were successful in hatching 2 eggs and raising both young past fledging (able to fly) and into the fall. In order to protect these nesting Sandhill Cranes, the specific location of this nest will remain private and cannot be disclosed, except that it is on private property in the Yampa Valley of Northwest Colorado.

In spring of 2021, we installed a nest camera at this nest and live-streamed the nest activity on our website. Here’s what some people had to say about our nest camera:

“It has been an amazing journey. Even my 7 year old grandson was involved by sharing one of the videos with his science class. They all loved it, especially his teacher!”
~Susan Morgan

“Thank you so much for providing this amazing experience!”
~Linda Johnson

“I very much enjoyed this journey with the beautiful Yampa Valley cranes.”
~Deborah Lind

“Thank you so much…..I have been borderline “obsessed” with this opportunity and occasionally checked in with Athena and Rocky during the night. Thanks to everyone who logged in with your observations. I will look forward to next year!”
~Susie Clark

Join us in April 2022 as we plan to go LIVE AGAIN with ROCKY and ATHENA!

2021 Nesting Season Summary

Watch the Nest Camera Highlights to see all the excitement from 2021 in short video clips!

Athena laid the 1st egg on April 15th and the 2nd egg on April 18th. Incubation started after the first egg was laid.

Athena and Rocky both took turns during the day to incubate the nest, but Athena always incubated at night. The Changing of the Guards occurred throughout the day.

The 1st chick hatched on May 18th in the afternoon. We are unsure if it was the 1st or 2nd egg that was laid. The other egg did not hatch.

During hatching, Rocky stayed on the nest all day. He left the nest with the chick to feed with Athena and the chick then went back to the nest to incubate the other egg while Athena roosted nearby with the chick. Finally, Rocky left the nest to help raise their one chick. The 2nd egg never hatched, there was a problem during development of the embryo that prevented the chick inside from developing.

Athena successfully defended the nest against multiple raccoon attacks and mink attacks.

Watch their entire 2021 nesting journey:

Photos of the chick during and after hatching (by Abby Jensen):

Other Birds Observed on the Nest Camera:

American crow (heard)
American goldfinch (heard)
American robin (heard)
Black-capped chickadee (heard)
Blue-winged teal
Canada goose
Chickadee (heard)
Cinnamon teal
Common merganser
Common yellow-throat (heard)
Gadwall
Great blue heron
Killdeer (heard)
Magpie
Mallard
Mourning dove (heard)
Northern Harrier (heard)
Red-shafted flicker
Red-tailed hawk
Red-winged blackbirds
Song sparrow (heard)
Sora (heard)
Virginia rail
Widgeon
Wilson’s snipe (heard)
Yellow-headed blackbirds

 

Mammals Observed on the Nest Camera:

Beaver
Muskrat
Mink
Raccoon
Mule deer

This live video feed was made possible through grants provided by the Yampa Valley Community Foundation and the WHILD fund. Internet access for live streaming is provided by Zirkel Wireless. Camera installation and setup were completed by Photon Syndicate. Discounted equipment was provided by Colorado Electric Supply.

ZIRKEL Wireless

Comments

  1. Thank you to Nancy, Erin and everyone involved! It has been an amazing journey. Even my 7 year old grandson was involved by sharing one of the videos with his science class. They all loved it, especially his teacher!

    Again, many thanks and love to the Sandhills!

    Susan Morgan

  2. We have been watching the Nest Camera all day today and very closely in the last few days since the chick hatched. While we would love to continue the nest camera live video feed, we feel that it is coming to the point that we need to end it. Rocky and Athena have left the nest with their one chick, though Rocky came by a few times earlier today to check on the nest. We are confident that the cranes are not going to come back to the nest and will instead focus on raising their chick and will move beyond range of the nest camera. In most years, cranes will raise 1 chick, and in really good years, they will raise 2 chicks, so these crane parens are still doing well with a successful nest!

    We will end the stream at 7pm MDT tonight. We want to THANK you all for watching- this has been so much fun and I have even learned a lot about neting sandhill cranes through this nest camera project. We are already working on how to improve this experience for next year. And we will continue to post new Highlight videos in the next week.

      • I very much enjoyed this journey with the beautiful Yampa Valley cranes. Thank you, Erinn, and everybody else involved, in bringing us this intimate moment in nature.

    • this has been very eventful and quite interesting..loved watching as much activity as I was able throughout this process of rebirth!

      Much success and health for this young family! May the next year be more fruitful

    • Thank you so much…..I have been borderline “obsessed” with this opportunity and occasionally checked in with Athena and Rocky during the night. Thanks to everyone who logged in with your observations. I will look forward to next year!

    • Carter and I just got home from bird watching. Saw a pair of Sandhill cranes with one chick out in a field here in Moffat County/Craig. Last year they (if it is the same pair) had two chicks. Just so good to see them. THANK YOU everyone who worked on this live video camera showing us the crane nest in the Hayden area – we loved it! Hope it returns next year. What an incredible experience!!!! Take care and thank you!!!!

    • Thank you for creating this wonderful experience – we, like so many other craniacs, got “hooked” watching the nest camera and observing the parents’ behaviors as well as the first days of the little chick. Amazing how fast the little one is growing and becoming more capable and physically fit by the minute!
      One question: Is there a way to find out what happened to the other egg? Can somebody safely retrieve the egg, break it open and ascertain, whether the egg never got fertilized or whether sometimes in the past few weeks the one embryo died? It would mean a lot to me to find this out for closure.
      Thank you again for setting up the camera, following up on questions, posting explanations and showing your love and interest in our cranes.

      • We had our staff visit the nest after we were sure the cranes were done with the nest. The egg was broken open by a predator (most likely avian, such as a magpie or crow) and the contents were already eaten. We are not sure now if the egg was unfertilized or if the development of the empbryo stopped at some point. The egg, however, was definitely not viable and would not have hatched, no matter how long Rocky kept coming back to it! The parents made the right choice in leaving the egg and focusing on raising the one chick they do have. The family continues to feed in the general area of the nest and is doing well.

    • Thanks very much to you all ! And, I’m flying best wishes to Athena, Rocky and Baby for long life. I became emotionally attached to them and even the extra egg. Hope during a migration they wing over Boulder.

    • Thank you so much! It was a great joy to watch and learn about the sandhill cranes and how they breed and raise their young. I found myself getting so attached to them! Judging by the comments, I am not the only one!

    • Thank you so much for the camera and the updates in the comments. Living in south central Nebraska, we have witnessed many amazing spring migrations. It never gets old-each year the excitement returns with the birds! We have not watched them sitting on a nest and eventually hatching a new little one. What a treat! Being busy ourselves, it was so nice to be able to view and read comments when we did have time. The experience gave us a higher level of insight into something that has been happening for thousands of years and hopefully many more. We have thoroughly appreciated the effort invested to make this peek into Crane life happen. Thank you again!

    • Thank you so much for your wonderful comments! We are so excited by the success of this project, and we are already working on making it better for next year!

  3. At about 12:52 pm one of the adult cranes flies into view and checks on the egg. It does a little pecking around the egg then wanders out of view of the camera.

  4. 05/21/21. Today’s record has some great stuff in it. As Erin says, it begins with that Pesky Raccoon (“Vito da Mobstah”) showing up at 05:14 AM with his car-headlight bright eyes revealed in the infra-red, making his usual pass, with Pa finally “snapping-to” with the Display and the ‘coon scamper. About 05:50 AM some bright spark (Erin?) rises to crank the camera over to the meadow where Mom and chick (looking bigger, more coordinated than last time I saw him/her) are wandering about the field. Pa arrives, and I note at 05:53 et seq that Chick #1 seems more interested in following Pa than Ma (Daddy’s girl or Dad’s assistant?). Mom does a bit of ground-poking (food instructions?) and Chick imitates. He/She clearly wants to keep moving but Mom says “Enough of this!” and sits down to block his/her way, and some mild scrambles gets the Chick deep into the feathers for a bit of warmth and maybe nap. After 06:04 AM Pa heads back to the nest, settles for an interlude with Egg……..this does not go too long. The process by which this pair are gradually giving up on that other Egg is also something to behold. Hope springing versus Realism?
    Ma seems much less interested in that “second” egg, methinks. And truly, somewhat less interested in “motherhood” methinks: unless Pa is nearby to keep her with the Chick, she seems much more willing to wander around and not watch the kid “like a hawk” (as it were). I detect a bit of Dr. Seuss’s “Mazie-Bird” in her character; recall Mazie went off to Palm Beach, leaving Horton….
    Hmmmmmmm.

  5. Any chance of moving the camera so we can see the cranes in the field? Thanks in advance for your consideration.

    • We have a spotter out in the field, and they said the cranes are too far back in the field to get them on the nest camera, which is why the camera is pointed back at the nest. Rocky, the male, did come back to the nest for a few minutes at 12:53-12:56.

  6. I am so curious – how did the parents get the chick across the water to the bigger grassy area?

    • The chick probably swam- crane chicks can swim. And the adult cranes can swim a little. But cranes don’t really swim unless they have small chicks that need to get across the water. Otherwise, the adults have been jumping across the water.

  7. Rocky, the male, sat on the nest all last night, but left at 5:38 this morning to join Athena and the chick, then went back to the nest at 6:00. It looked like the egg got rolled out of the nest a bit because Rocky had to roll the egg back to the center of the nest. Rocky stayed at the nest until 6:17 when he left again to join Athena and the chick foraging in the grasses.

    We will see if the cranes go back to the nest today and will try to follow them throughout the day as best we can. It is unlikely that the other egg will hatch, but as long as the cranes are going back to the nest, we will keep the camera live. Cranes and other birds can incubate past when an egg should hatch, though for how long depends on the bird, and it seems Rocky doesn’t want to give up on that egg yet!

  8. At 5:14am a critter – looked like a raccoon- approached the nest from the upper left, the sitting crane chased it away then rolled the egg and settled back down.

    At 5:39am the crane walked away from the nest and the egg.

    At 5:52am the camera readjusted and showed both cranes and the chick in the grassy area.

    • The male, Rocky, was on the nest all night. The unhatched egg in the nest doesn’t show signs of hatching yet, but Rocky was determined to sit on it all night. But yes, then he left the nest this morning.

  9. At 5:14am a critter – looked like a raccoon – approached the nest from the upper left, the sitting crane chased it off, then rolled the egg before sitting back down at 5:16.

      • When the cranes roost in the river, they are standing. But with such a small chick, the crane lays down to brood the chick (meaning, it is keeping the chick warm by having the chick under it).

  11. 19:45 on 5/20/21. The female is roosting near the bush in the grass in the general area of the nest with the chick beside or under her. The male is standing guard 15-20 meters away (can’t see in the camera). As of now, no one is on the nest, though the male was determined to sit on the nest all day.

  12. The cranes amazed me today. The male made the decision to do what was best for the hatched chick. Took him to food and water. Then came back to see if the remaining egg might still hatch. Devotion.

  13. Rocky, the male, went back to the nest at 9:49 after seeing a great blue heron near the nest. Rocky is now sitting on the nest while Athena is across the waterway with the chick.

  14. I see one parent is back on the nest as of 9:50am.
    Considering the date Tukka (that’s what we’re calling it) hatched, I wonder if it was the second egg.

    • It’s very possible that the egg that hatched was the 2nd egg laid. The hatch occurred on the 33rd day for egg 1 and the 30th day for egg 2. Considering the parents weren’t very serious in their incubating until the 2nd egg was laid, it’s hard to tell which egg hatched.

  15. Oh that sweet little nugget! This has been an astounding window into the life of these cranes! Thank you CCCC! Now that they’re both wandering away from that second egg for so long, are you thinking that egg is probably not viable?

    • ha … and now they’ve wandered back to incubating after scaring away the heron … so who knows?! Patience…

  16. Rocky left the nest this morning with the chick and joined Athena on the other side of the waterway from the nest. The chick probably swam across (cranes can swim a little but prefer not to except when the chicks are young). We will try to follow the family as best we can today, but we may not always be able to do so. We will see if the parents go back to the nest today for the other egg or to roost.

    Thanks to everyone who has been watching!!!

    • 10:32 Thursday, 05/20/21, the camera shows one in the meadow and one on the nest – was so excited to see they had not abandoned the other egg. Also just before Rocky took the chick across the water, there was much more attention paid to the baby chick – good to see also. This is so exciting! And I was so relieved to see a parent still on the nest.

    • It’s inconclusive as of now. It’s possible the cranes will go back to the nest and continue incubating the other egg. It’s also possible they have concluded the other egg won’t hatch and have given up on it so they can raise the chick from the egg that did hatch. We are trying to follow the cranes today to see if one of them goes back to the nest or they stay with the chick.

  18. 5.19.21 at 12:59:50pm, Athena stands and in the next few minutes, till ~00:04:40am 5.20.21, she rolls the 2nd egg, the chick stands and wobbly-walks in the nest with several wing flaps. At 00:01 the chick opened it’s bill… incredibly cute. Mama sits back on the egg with the chick to her left and it pushes up against her till Mama takes her under wing. This camera is providing a wonderful view of their world. Thanks CCCC!

  19. Starting around 6pm 19 May Adult moving around the nest, turning the egg and then it looked as if it attempted to feed the chick. The adult kept poking around the ground in front of it and then turning to the chick and acting as if it was offering it something to eat. For the next 20 minutes or so the chick clumsily teeters around the nest and then just past 6:30pm the adult stands up and waits for the chick to come closer and then sits back down on the egg and the chick to brood it.

  20. I noticed one of the parents feeding the chick pieces of shell this morning. What else do the chicks eat?

    • So far, I think the only thing this chick has eaten is pieces of eggshell. In the first few weeks of life, the chicks will eat a diet rich in protein, consisting mostly of different bugs and insects.

    • May 19, 2021, Wednesday, from 19:37 to around 19:50 the parents exchange places. But the baby was left out and tried frantically to get the parent to let him get underneath again. It almost seems like they are ignoring the new baby and I haven’t seen them feed him either. Why aren’t the parents more “nurturing”?

      • I don’t know if I can answer as to why they are not more ‘nurturing’. But the parents have fed the chick pieces of eggshell (at least from what we were able to see on the camera). The parents may have fed the chick at other times that we were unable to see- such as when the chick was behind the grasses and the adult was off the nest.

  22. Great views of the chick starting at 07:40 this morning (5/19) when momma crane stands up; mom and dad trade places and Rocky gives the chick its first (?) feeding at 07:49. After that the chick kept struggling to crawl up under dad’s feathers. It looked totally exhausting. Thankfully, daddy crane got up at 08:09 and got the chick under him for warmth and protection along with the 2nd egg.

  23. Interesting that the sitter overnight seems to be virtually always awake and scanning, and does not rise till 04:51 AM revealing an awake chick. They interact a little before the adult (mom?) settles down with chick proximate but not under wing for few minutes.

  24. The chick that hatched yesterday was under the female, Athena, for most of the night until 4:52 when Athena stands up and sits back down on the other egg while the chick remains out from under her on her right side. The chick hangs out here for a while and into the morning. At 5:51, there is a great moment when Athena stands up and the chick is visible in the nest.

  25. Very early this morning at 00:57, a raccoon makes a visit close to the nest. Athena, our female warrior, stands up and scares it away while the not-even-a-day-old chick sits in the nest.