The annual Cranes, Colors and Cabernet Festival, which celebrates Michigan’s Sandhill Crane migration, the fall colors, and wine from Sandhill Crane Vineyards will take place on Saturday, Oct. 18.
Join Sandhill Crane Vineyards, the Jackson Audubon Society, the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary, Legacy Land Conservancy, and The Big 400 for the celebration.
The vineyard will be open all day for tastings and cheer and stay open late for crane watchers featuring the Sandhill Crane’s gold-medal winning Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard will also have mulled wine to keep crane watchers toasty warm.
The Color Hike (+ Wine) will take place from 1-3 p.m. in the Waterloo Recreation Area – Sharon Hills Preserve, and will be guided by the Legacy Land Conservancy. Register here.
Crane Watch and Walks take place from 4 p.m.-sunset from the Audubon Society thru the The Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary so you can see the giant birds up close. Driving and walking tours available.
If you are a newcomer to the crane migration, it is different every year and there is no real way to predict the outcome for this year, but the cranes do gather each night about two hours before sunset, and usually in large numbers before their migration south.
During the 2012 migration season at the sanctuary between 5,000-6,000 Sandhill Cranes gathered nightly. Take a look at the crane count page for current numbers.
Thank you for the nice publicity but the Haehnle activities will actually begin at 12 Noon with nature hikes led by sanctuary naturalists. At 2pm adjacent land recently acquired and added to the sanctuary land will be dedicated. This will be followed bythe natural history of cranes presentation,followed by auto tours to view the cranes up close in nearby fields. There will be crane watching from Observation Hill at the Sanctuary until dark after the auto tours. Cranes fly in to roost overnight prior to migration south. My husband, Stew Robinovitz and I are members of the sanctuary committee