2019 Sandhill Crane Festival – Field Trip

When:
November 1, 2019 @ 1:00 pm – November 3, 2019 @ 9:00 pm
2019-11-01T13:00:00-07:00
2019-11-03T21:00:00-08:00
Where:
Hutchins Street Square
125 S. Hutchins Street in Lodi
California
Cost:
Free
Contact:
Trisha Brown & Joel Brown
Thank you to Jennifer Marano for organizing November’s field trip to the Sandhill Crane Festival in Lodi, CA.  Lodi is a small town near Stockton, about 2 hours from Santa Rosa.  For the past 39 years they have held a festival to celebrate the sandhill cranes that visit the nearby wetlands every winter.  These large birds have interesting behaviors including flying out in the morning and back in the evening in large groups.  This makes them an interesting subject for photographers.
Tours are offered as part of the festival November 1 – 3, many with well known experts on these birds.  Tours require registration in advance and the sooner, the better, to be able to participate in the tour of your choice.  There is a fee for some of them and separately a Lands Pass must be purchased.  Go to https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/licensing/lands-pass for more information on how to purchase the pass. Details can also be found on the festival website (link below).  All tours begin and end at Hutchins Street Square in Lodi.  Check in at the registration table at least 15 minutes before the start of the tour. You will be required to show your pass or license at that time.

NOTE: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS SATURDAY NIGHT

Several of us plan to attend the festival in Lodi November 1-3, and have started signing up for tours.  The plan is to go there for a Saturday tour, stay overnight, and do an early morning fly-out tour Sunday morning.  The Festival web site, linked below, has 16 pages of tour descriptions.  The tour I signed up for was already half full.  There are several hotels near central Lodi; see the festival website for details.

The website for the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival tours is https://cranefestival.com/tours.php.