Large Mystery Flock Spotted in Field while Driving

by Kate
(Mount Pleasant, Iowa, USA)

I think I found a large flock while migrating the other day. I was driving in West-Central Indiana and came across three fields absolutely littered with a large flock of large, long-legged, long-necked birds. They were grey-ish white. Since I was driving, I didn't have time to stop and look at them closer to get many more details. I think they might have been either cranes or herons of some sort, but I'm not sure which. From pictures I've looked up on the internet, I'd say they have the humped back near the shoulder like a heron (as opposed to the smooth line of the crane), but I don't remember seeing any of them with their necks retracted like the heron. There might have been some black coloring on the the head. I was so astonished when I saw them--I'm used to tall birds like that in the Midwest only being seen as a rare treat and even then, only one at a time. The thousands of them together was awe-striking.

Comment
Lucky you! I think they might have been Sandhill Cranes - although it seems awfully late for them to be migrating.
Susan