Not long ago, we noted how most of the Sandhill Cranes had left California's Central Valley for points north. So where are they now? Well, we checked the eBird maps and learned a little bit. See below the fold:

Many of the Greater Sandhill Cranes have gravitated to their nesting grounds on the Modoc Plateau in northeast California. You can also see the birds filling out into Oregon and Washington. These latter birds are probably headed for Alaska. Audubon California has done some work here with private landowners to secure some of this wet habitat for the birds into the future:

As for Alaska, we don't see too many there yet. Alaska tends to get so many Sandhills from around the country, it can be tricky identifying where they came from. But if you look at the eBird map below, you can see a couple sightings in Alaksa in the vicinity of Homer, where California birds tend to go. So perhaps those two sightings are the leading edge of California birds. We'll know more in a few weeks: