Crane Battle

This past January (2025), my husband and I had a job in Huntsville, AL. We would be done by lunch so we decided to stay in the area and kill some time. The night before, we explored what was in the area that we could do or shoot with our cameras. 

I was intent on finding the "best place to go" while my husband already knew. He kept mentioning Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. He had never been there himself but he had heard about it and his description sounded intriguing.

After looking it up, none of my options were even a close second. After I saw online what was going there, it was an obvious winner.

Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge is a midway point for many species of ducks, cranes and songbirds. That alone was enough to make the decision easy, but reading on, I became extremely excited.

On its 35,000 acres, a total of 300 species of birds, 47 species of mammals, 75 species of reptiles and amphibians, 115 species of fish, 38 species of freshwater mussels, and 26 species of freshwater snails have been documented.

It gets better. In January, waterfowl and crane numbers are at their peak. Tens of thousands of sandhill cranes can be seen throughout the area, especially all of the bodies of water. 

Wheeler is a birdwatcher's paradise. There are blinds and observation areas that can conceal the viewer so that the wildlife can be observed in its natural habitat.

We got there and were excited to see what we could capture with our cameras. We first headed to a field that gave a great view of the water and spent a good bit of time there. Then we took a little bit of time in the visitor's center to get more general knowledge and see the displays with information about the park. 

After deciding which blind observation area to head to first, we walked to a raised building with windows without glass that had doors that one could open and close to see the wildlife. Quickly realizing that we wanted to hang out there for a while, we got the camp stools we keep stashed in the car for such a time as this... and we settled in. 

However, one thing that we didn't think about was the weather. The temperatures were great - for January. I'm usually hot natured so I didn't pack much outer wear. I didn't think about how long we would be outside and how quickly the temperature would drop as the afternoon waned on.

I was miserable physically but I was incredibly happy emotionally. I took hundreds of shots, playing with the settings on the cameras I only had about 6 months at that time. Unlike at a professional shoot, I had lots of time to try something, read about it on the tablet I brought with a manual loaded on it, and try it again. 

I was having a blast... and the best was yet to come.

We were cold and tired so we started to leave. But there was one more area - a blind - that was right by the parking lot. We debated whether to stay or go - and opted to stay. 

The left side of the blind was okay. It had a nice view of the wildlife but it wasn't that different than what we had already been shooting. So we moved to the right side.

What we saw was incredible.

There was a small field with about thirty sandhill cranes... and in the middle were two who were fighting, a true wildlife spectator sport. The most unusual aspect was that the birds changed. I couldn't keep up with whether it was the winner who stayed to fight a new opponent or just different sets of birds fighting, but what was the most unusual was that the other cranes were watching the action. I almost expected a crane with a box full of popcorn to sell to the audience. 

Even though my fingers were practically numb by this point, I think I took almost as many pictures of this scene than I had thus far in the day.

Next year, we plan to go back wearing much more appropriate clothing and do it again. I highly recommend this place.

                                                      (All images by Tracy Riggs Frontz)

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