Every year come autumn a predictable depression befalls me, when the sun disappears for months behind grey clouds, the temperature drops to values where socks and shawls are required and staying indoors seems preferable to a walk in the garden. Then, my well-known melancholic streak gets the upper hand.
This is the time when migratory bird pass over and I wish I could fly with them. Large groups of cranes in V-formation, up to 150 individuals, fly in from the north and pass over in southwesterly direction straight on with loud chatter in the sky. They seem to be discussing the flight route - look down there: these are the Taunus hills, we head for the Main valley, then the confluence with the river Rhine and follow that down south ... that's what it sounds like. Or maybe they sing songs, marching hymns like soldiers or children in kindergarden, to keep up spirits on the way and last through the long flight. Or they are counting one, two, three,... seventy, seventy-one .. haven't we lost anyone? Apparently, cranes fly in families, they raise one or two kids in Scandinavia and take them southwards, joining other families, because they would not find their way alone.
Storks, on the other hand, who travel these long distances to Spain and further on across Gibraltar as well, apparently have some inherited navigation system, some instinct knowledge where to go , because their young ones preceed their parents' journey by at least a week or so.
Close to Berlin, one hour westwards, a small village called Linum surrounded by flooded meadows is a resting place , a sort of travelling station to stock up food and body fat, for passing cranes in autumn, in October. This is not an old natural, wild area. Meadows were only given back to nature in recent years, in the past 25 years or so, when a protected area for birds was established. And not until farmers turned to growing maize in large quantitites because of the renewable energy craze in recent years which leaves large fields with maize left-overs after the harvest, did cranes come in large numbers to rest here. The cranes feed on those left-overs during the day and sleep on the safer floodplanes overnight. Up to 60.000 cranes have been counted this autumn when they assemble here in the area. Due to the ongoing agricultural glut, the numbers are steadily and exponentially rising. Young cranes are fed well before they start on their arduous journey south and fewer individuals die from exhaustion. So for the moment and for our delight, crane numbers are rising.
Linum in evening light
Before nightfall, one flight after the next comes in like on Frankfurt airport; you can see the next group in V-formation arriving one after the other far into the distance, 10 or 15 km away, accompanied by their characteristic trumpeting sounds.
Cranes are very flighty companions, their safety distance is 300 meters, so visitors are not allowed any closer for fear to chase them away and to make them fly up and waste valuable energy that they need for their long-distance journey ahead. Maybe in a few years, when the numbers rise even more, visitors will be invited closer to chase them up for an exercise programme when they start falling out of the sky because of obesity ....
A couple of days more and we will follow the crowd and fly south for some sun -
See you next year!
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