Cranae

Well, cranes, really but I thought it was more poetic to call a flock of them cranae, since their scientific name is Gruidae. The bird are getting uneasy, they call each other with their sad trumpet signal and make quite a lot of noise, the time for migration is here. They fly around in small groups, occasionally they meet and mingle with other groups and sometimes individuals change group. In the photo you can see that this flock is really two flocks, flying in different directions maybe because the other flock disturbs them. Sometimes one solitary bird takes off on its own and is often followed by one or two more. It's like they search for individuals who can lead the group. At a distance I saw several flocks with a huge number of individuals all flying in the same direction. The usually stop on the east coast of the island to graze and gather strength before they take off across the baltic, heading for Turkey or Spain, the two main goals.

The day has been productive, creating a final mix for my Iraqi friend, Doing the well needed washing of clothes, cutting the grass, hopefully for the last time this year, maybe forever, where I live now. I also started to rehears a bit for two concerts next week on Wednesday and Thursday.