GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The eastern sandhill crane, Michigan's oldest living bird species, knows a thing or two about survival.
Dating back 2.5 million years to the Paleolithic Period, the tall, gray-bodied birds strutted among early humans during the Stone Age and endured hunting and habitat loss in the early 1900s, narrowly escaping extinction.
"Anything that stands on two legs and looks you in the eye, right? It can be addicting," said Anne Lacy, director of eastern flyway programs for the International Crane Foundation. "There is something about cranes that draw people in."
In its annual survey of eastern sandhill cranes, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and its partners recorded 107,164 birds in 2022. The "conservative" estimate is a 19% increase from the prior year and raises the three-year average to 97,385.
"They are symbols of how we as people have fixed things," Lacy said. "The better management of land and water and animals has led to that comeback."
While protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, state lawmakers have tried (and failed) in recent years to pass bills permitting a sandhill crane hunt, citing "significant issues for Michigan farmers."
The long-legged omnivores are known to peck through wheat and corn fields, leading Michigan's Senate Resolution No. 20 (2021) to label them a "nuisance" bird. Referred to as the 'ribeye of the sky' for its taste, the bill also considered them a potential "food resource."
Currently, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee allow for an eastern sandhill season and the states together harvested 1,085 birds in 2022. While the species' total population has long-soared above the USFWS's 30,000-bird benchmark, Michigan is in a "very different" situation due to it being a "core" breeding area, according to Lacy.
"Could they and should they [be hunted]?" Lacy said, also referencing a crop additive that prevents cranes from eating seed corn. "They are two very, very different questions that need to be dealt with very, very seriously."
