For the past two or three years, birders have reported a pair of Sandhill Cranes near Bristol Pond (Winona Lake), about 4 miles north of Bristol Village.  This year the couple successfully raised one offspring known as a colt.  These Sandhill Cranes have been feeding in fields around Bristol all fall and are still around on October 15.  Many Vermont birders enjoy locating and watching this rare bird family.  They will soon fly south, stay together as a family unit all winter, then the parents will send the young off on its own in the spring.  We hope the parents return to Bristol next year to raise another colt.  

A pair of Sandhills was observed several times in the Valley early in June, 2007.   Perhaps they will return to nest in 2008 and we will have our own Sandhill family. 

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