Weekend Explorer

Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area

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by Paula McHugh

AFTER THE FIELDS HAVE YIELDED THEIR LAST HARVEST, chill north winds signal the time when greater sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis, head to warmer climes. From their nesting grounds in the northern Great Lakes states and provinces, the gray birds will set their internal compasses on a southeasterly course toward Florida and southern Georgia. Ten thousand, twenty thousand — and in peak years as many as thirty thousand birds — will stop to rest at Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area, 50 miles inland from Lake Michigan near Medaryville, Indiana.

This seasonal mass-gathering of the sandhills is a marvel that attracts birders, nature lovers, and the just plain curious. The number of human spectators in past seasons has topped 30,000, with busy days drawing upwards of 200 visitors.

The long-legged, long-necked sandhill cranes depend on this wetland habitat for protection and rest, while the surrounding agricultural land in this still-rural region provides them with meals of waste grain, small rodents, and insects. Such large numbers of cranes may also choose Jasper-Pulaski for its convenient location along an almost direct line between their start and end destinations, according to property manager Jim Bergens of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which owns and manages the site. They also seem to be funneled here along Lake Michigan, an obstacle they won’t fly over.

Beginning with their arrival as early as August, the cranes — which are joined by Canada geese, ducks, and occasionally even federally endangered whooping cranes — stake claim to Jasper-Pulaski’s 300-acre Goose Pasture, a field planted in winter wheat and surrounded by wetlands, where they’ll stay for three or four weeks. As early, smaller flocks continue south, massive new flocks flood in. By mid-November — peak fall viewing time — daily crane counts swell to 15,000, and sometimes 30,000 during warmer autumns. They congregate again February through March, though the autumn stopover yields the greatest numbers of cranes at one time.

During the daytime, motorists can observe cranes on the wing or feeding along US 421 and along Highway 143 near the main entrance to Jasper-Pulaski. The cranes forage the open fields within a ten-mile radius of their main staging grounds. They return to Goose Pasture around sunset to loaf and socialize, before flying off to sleep in the safety of the open wetlands. The birds’ trilling calls — likened by some to a wobbly trumpet burst — rise to maximum volume just after sunrise and again near sunset, the best hours for viewing their peculiar dance. In this ritual, one crane bows low and then jumps straight into the air. The pair will call in unison, and often one will fling bits of grass while jumping. Considered a courtship ritual in February and March (when the cranes come through on the way to nest up north), the fall version of the dance is thought to be more of a bonding ceremony between lifelong mates.

Visitors can watch from an elevated viewing platform equipped with three scopes. “It’s quite a spectacle,” said assistant property manager Jason Gilbert. “We have people who come all the way from overseas. Ninety percent of the total eastern crane population stops over here in the fall.”

According to Gilbert, commercial hunting and habitat loss early in the 20th century — here and elsewhere — had caused sandhill crane numbers to diminish. Nesting sandhills disappeared from Jasper County after 1929, the same year Jasper-Pulaski became a game farm and preserve. But populations began to rebound in the 1940s, and by fall of 1967, the count at Jasper-Pulaski was at 2,500. No cranes were nesting though.

Beginning around 1982, thanks to enforcement of crane protections and efforts to save their habitat, birds began nesting once again in Indiana.

Today, an average of 2,000 sandhill cranes stay at Jasper-Pulaski through the winters and summers. And some that stay here are breeding. “I’ve seen a couple nesting pairs this year,” Gilbert said, adding that he’s come across a few colts, or young cranes. The nests are in remote areas of the 8,062-acre preserve.

All visitors must register at the sign-in shelter near the headquarters, where they can also pick up maps and information. To the west is a shaded picnic area and restrooms. Visitors should dress for the weather and consider bringing binoculars. The preserve is on Eastern Time (one hour later than Chicago). For more information, call (219) 843-4841.

Roaming

Train buffs can visit the Monon Connection Museum, 10012 U.S. 421, in North Monon, Indiana, (219) 253-4101, 16 miles south of Jasper-Pulaski. The museum offers a comprehensive collection of railroad memorabilia. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. $6, age 6 and under are free.

Prairie Moon Orchard, on Route 421 South between Francesville and Monon, (219) 253-6383, offers an old-fashioned general store, 18 varieties of apples, fresh cider and pies, and locally raised beef, pork, and bison. Rustic cabins are available. Open April 1 to December 30, with an apple festival on September 23 and a Roundup on October 2.

Foraging

The Whistle Stop, (219) 253-4100, next to the Monon Connection Museum, is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Diners can watch G-scale trains move along overhead tracks while waiting for their orders. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fingerhut Bakery & Café, 119 Lane Street in North Judson, (574) 896-5937, serves breakfast and lunch made with their fresh-baked breads. Open Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Grand Central Station restaurant, 301 Lane Street in North Judson, (574) 896-3010, honors the town’s heritage in name and with memorabilia housed in a circa-1911 building. Walk across the unusual 66-foot, full-scale railroad tracks enclosed in glass while waiting for your order. Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday Champagne Brunch buffet 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Monday.

Bedding Down

A temporary nesting place for birders is the Holiday Inn Express, 4788 Nesbitt Drive in Rensselaer, Indiana, (866) 866-7560, about 30 minutes from the cranes’ refuge. The hotel has 69 rooms ranging from $69 to $85, a crane video, and updated crane counts.