World’s Largest Sandhill Crane – 29/52, BlackBerry 52 — Week 29 Jump-Off, Steele, North Dakota, July 17th 2011, photo © 2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
On a July trip to North Dakota, we exited off I-94 to fill up with gas in Steele, North Dakota. Across the street, next to the Lone Steer Cafe (formerly a bustling Greyhound bus station), a 40-foot sandhill crane stood grazing in the grass. Sandy, the World’s Largest Sandhill Crane, was built in 1999 by Arena, North Dakota resident James Miller. The sculpture weighs 4.5 tons and is constructed of rolled sheet metal welded onto a steel inner frame. It was built in three separate sections — the body in one section, the neck and head in another, and pipes fitted to make the legs.
Residents of Steele, North Dakota erected the giant sandhill to call attention to the fact that Kidder County is one of the best birding destinations in North America. The Coteau Rangeland of North Dakota, commonly known as the Prairie Pothole Region, is an area of glacial potholes located in the direct path of the migration flyway making this area a favorite spot for migratory nesting birds, including the Sandhill Crane. To the west, Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge, established as one of the country’s first wildlife refuges in 1908 by executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt, is the largest American White Pelican rookery in North America, where thousands of pelicans nest each spring.
North Dakota artist James Miller, creator of the World’s Largest Sandhill Crane, died October 17, 2002. According to his obituary in the Bismarck Tribune, Jim and his wife farmed north of Arena from 1955 until retiring in 1991. He created metal work sculptures in his shop and invented his own version of “Miller Bilt” hydraulic presses, along with everything from two wheeled trailers and wheelchair ramps to yard ornaments, docks, crystal radios, and even a steam engine. His art live on in 26 states throughout the country.
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, August 22nd, 2011
Lotus and I will continue to respond to each other’s BlackBerry Jump-Off photos with text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add them to our posts.
-related to posts: WRITING TOPIC — ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS, dragonfly revisted — end of summer, first dragonfly, Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Dragon Fight — June Mandalas, sticks for legs and arms
QM, Although I lived in ND for 38 years, I never saw this crane. The residents of the Dakotas have a long history of placing giant replicas of life-like images meaningful to them. In South Dakota they carve mountains; Rushmore’s Presidents and Chief Crazy Horse. But in North Dakota you will find a very strange mixture of statuary; the bigger the better, as if they felt obligated to place something along the highways to keep drivers watchful enough to stay awake while cruising down the long, flat, straight ribbons of roads. The last glaciers ground down the mountains that might have once been there; finally running our of ice just north of the Black Hills. So, we have a giant turtle in the Turtle Mountains. It was constructed from carefully arranging tires in a circular shape, then painting them a turtle shade of green. Head south to I-94, and you will find a huge buffalo/bison statue at Jamestown, along with a small herd of real buffalo in the shade of trees along the James River. (They are hard to see with those trees, though.) Travel west of Mandan and watch for the giant black and white Holstein cow. People I know have picnicked in the shade of her udder! Dairy farmers are grateful for their cows. Or maybe the state is peopled by heathens who worship idols. Just kidding. Farther west you find a huge circle of fabricated geese that seem to be heading south. Well, there you have it…something to look at, and I have to admit, the state has really lovely rest areas!
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Sorry for the typo…should be ‘out” instead of “our” of ice.
Oowl
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oliverowl, I love it! A play by play of North Dakota’s giant statuary. I didn’t know about the giant turtle. Now I want to see it. But it’s funny you mention the huge bison statue at Jamestown. When we were driving down the freeway the same day we saw the World’s Largest Sandhill Crane, we also saw the bison. And, in fact, saw the white bison that Liz said was quite rare. We saw it as a good sign. Liz said she pointed out the giant Holstein the time we were driving near Mandan, but I don’t remember it. How could I forget an udder so large it would cast a shadow on a group of picnickers? LOL I really enjoyed your comment on the giants of North Dakota. I have come to love the big skies there and the wide open spaces. You just don’t get that in Minnesota. Thirty eight years is long, long time. You really get to know a place in that span of time. Thanks so much for stopping by today!
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Lovely crane statue!! My favorite big bird. We have sandhill cranes nesting by the pond just down the hill next to our house. They have an unmistakable loony call. It’s very entertaining. The best of all, though, is when they fly over, usually in pairs. Long legs, big wings. The first week I sat at my new writing spot in this new house, facing two big windows, two cranes flew right in front of the house. I took it as a good sign, indicating that yes, I was in the right place doing the right (write) thing. I’d love to see this statue, this mighty grandmother of a bird.
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I remember when the white buffalo in the Jamestoen herd was born. The Native Americans were quite thrilled, as they considered it to be sacred and a sign of good fortune to come.
If you make a trip up to the Turtle Mountains, you should keep heading north and visit the International Peace Gardens that straddle the U.S. Canadian border. They are lovely.
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Thanks for the crane. I’m drawn to oversized creations, especially ones that pop up in fields and open spaces, that look like they’ve flown or strolled in from other, larger, lands and are happy to have now found places big enough to set up homes in. I haven’t gotten around New Mexico enough to give a good rundown on what we have, but I’ve heard about the huge roadrunner outside of Las Cruces made of trash recycled from the local landfill – http://desertedge.blogspot.com/2011/01/trash-or-treasure.html
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Sandra, that giant roadrunner is pretty cool. Wouldn’t mind seeing that at some point. I love pieces of art that deal with scale. They change the way we think about how small we are in the scheme of things, and then how small our planet is in the scheme of the whole Universe.
oliverowl, would love to visit the Peace Gardens. I hope to do so one day. Though I have been a home dweller the last five years or so, I do hope to do a little more traveling across this country in the next decade. There are a few places I’d like to go that I have not seen yet.
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Jude, I see those cranes that flew by your writing window as a great omen of things to come with your writing! Sounds like you are in the right living space!
The call you heard from the sandhill crane is a million years old. They have prehistoric DNA, part of what I love about them (and the dragonflies as well).
One of the things I like about this giant crane in North Dakota is that it draws attention to the patterns of migratory birds like the sandhills. One of their flyways is in ND, one in New Mexico (ybonesy has them land in her back yard), and a major one through Nebraska and the Platte River area. I went to see the Sandhill Crane migration in Nebraska one year and it was incredible to hear hundreds of cranes call all at the same time over the Full Moon!
If you ever get a chance to go to Nebraska for the Sandhill Crane migration, take it! We also went with a group of people to a blind by the Platte River and watched the cranes wake up. Many sleep on one leg in the shallow river water by night. By day they beef up in the fields for the rest of their flight. I loved this experience.
I have also been to Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania and Hawk Ridge up near Duluth, Minnesota to see the migratory birds pass by on the thermals. Love it!
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[…] a vacation outside of Minnesota. There was one trip to North Dakota, but not for pleasure (though it had its moments). I leave behind all the angst and sorrow created by the greed and selfishness of others. You […]
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[…] to see the sandhill crane migration. And on another road trip through North Dakota, I witnessed The World’s Largest Sandhill Crane. A few weeks ago, I drove just outside of Zimmerman to view the cranes again at the Sherburne […]
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