It was sunset in early March and a chirping sound echoed across the fields of the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado. Thousands of birds swirled overhead, coming down to roost. Every spring, sandhill cranes migrate through the valley, bringing locals and tourists alike to stand, binoculars at the ready, next to wetland areas where the birds gather.
More than 20,000 of this sub-population of Rocky Mountain Greater Sandhill Cranes come to the area each spring, to rest on their way to their summer home in the northern Rockies. In celebration, the small town of Monte Vista hosts an annual Crane Festival, which brings thousands of visitors from around Colorado, and the country, to see these unique birds.
“They sound like dinosaurs” was the refrain my colleague and I heard from just about everyone we talked to about the cranes. The oldest sandhill crane fossil is 2.5 million years old, making them quite a bit younger than dinosaurs, but they do famously have a call that brings dinosaurs to mind – although it’s a myth that the sound of a sandhill crane was used for the velociraptor in Jurassic Park.
Photographers flock to capture the cranes in the mornings and evenings while they gather in a field near the Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder.
“They’re almost as big as a person, they stand four feet tall, and they have an enormous wingspan,” Amy Engle, the director of the Monte Vista Crane Festival told us, while chatting outside the Ski Hi event complex, where the festival took place.
Engle said that around 2,000 people came to ticketed events during the Crane Festival weekend, which included a craft fair, guided tours, talks from scientists, and film screenings.
At the Ski Hi event complex, a craft fair with local vendors and nonprofits abounds with crane themed arts and crafts for Monte Vista Crane Festival. Photos by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder.
A Boon for Tourism
“This is our slow period,” Engle said about tourism in the San Luis Valley in the spring. After hunting season in the fall, there isn’t much bringing visitors to Monte Vista until the busy summer season, she said, “so this is a great time of year to have the cranes here. It brings in a lot of tourists and a lot of people to spend money in restaurants and shops.”
Amy Engle is the director of the Monte Vista Crane Festival. 2025 was the festival’s 43rd year running. Photo by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder.
Susan Turner and her husband drove down from Glenwood Springs, Colorado to see the cranes, after hearing that there were thousands of birds present this year. “This is more than I think we’ve ever seen before,” said Turner as we stood next to a field full of birds around sunset. “This is our third or fourth time coming, and sometimes we see a few, and sometimes we see hundreds or thousands.”
A 2020 study on the economic benefit of spring crane migration in Monte Vista found that visitors to the valley over the 30-day period when the cranes are present contributed over $3 million to the local economy. The study estimated that around 16,500 non locals and 1,600 locals visited the wildlife refuge specifically to view cranes during that 30-day period.
The town of Monte Vista has completely embraced their feathered friends who visit each spring. Many crane themed murals fill the streets and every year businesses sponsor temporary crane art on each block of downtown. Photos by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder.
Mike Oldham is the administrator of the Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge where many of the cranes spend their stopover in the valley. We met him next to a field full of cranes – he estimated there were about 12,000-14,000 birds in the field of barley. “They really rely on it as a nice, easy food source to get before they move,” said Oldham.
These specific barley fields are owned by the Molson Coors company, the American-Canadian brewer based in Golden, Colorado. Oldham said that the beer mogul donates the grain from these fields every year, specifically for the cranes’ diets.
Mike Oldham, administrator of the Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge (left) and Mike Oldham (right, no relation), longtime Colorado Parks and Wildlife volunteer, help visitors learn about the migrating cranes at one of the birds’ common feeding fields. Photo by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder.
Why Did Sandhill Cranes Pick the San Luis Valley?
Historically, the San Luis Valley was the perfect location for a “rest stop” on the way to northern breeding grounds. It’s still the cranes’ stopover of choice, but with increased drought in the valley, things are changing.
“At one time, the valley was a lot more wet. It’s a little drier now, and so it’s a little harder for them to make their way and find the different habitats and food,” Oldham said.
Cranes need a specific environment for roosting, loafing, and feeding. They spend their nights roosting in shallow open water, their mornings and evenings feeding on grains, and their days loafing around in wet meadows. Oldham said that’s why they choose the wildlife refuge, which has wetlands and fields that are particularly appealing to the migrating birds.
Locals and tourists observe a field full of cranes outside of Monte Vista, Colorado. Photo by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder.
It’s not the only spot in the valley that these cranes flock to, but with drier conditions, fewer locations are available to choose from. Drought conditions have inspired water conservation, meaning that water managers choose when water users are able to start pumping water for their fields. Most water users get water on April 1st, said Engle, but the refuge is able to pump water earlier than other places in the valley, so the birds have the open water they need to roost.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife provides viewing stations for visitors to take a closer look at the visiting birds. First thing in the morning and just before dusk are some of the best times to see the sandhill cranes. Photo by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder.
In addition to Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge land, cranes rely on private agriculture for their food, and some local farmers have conserved their fields with a goal of maintaining agricultural land for the migrating birds. A study by the Intermountain West Joint Ventures showed that 90% of the land used by the cranes was private land, mostly flood-irrigated agricultural land.
Jocelyn Catterson works for the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust, which manages conserved agricultural land in the valley. During the festival, she led a tour of one of the conserved private properties to show visitors how much the birds rely on access to water and agricultural land. “A lot of people don’t know how important private land conservation is,” Catterson said. The land trust uses conservation easements to preserve private land in perpetuity – meaning it will never be divided up and can remain agricultural or available for wildlife like the cranes.
Sandhill cranes can live over 20 years and they mate for life. “What is really fun about the cranes is when they do what we call their dance,” said a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Service volunteer who has been helping out during the crane migration for 20 years. The cranes dance as a mating ritual or to strengthen a mating bond, jumping and bobbing round each other acrobatically to show their romantic interest.
At the convention center’s Colorado Parks and Wildlife booth during Monte Vista Crane Festival, volunteers reenact a Sandhill crane mating ritual “dance.” Photo by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder.
While the hobby of birdwatching has been on the rise, with popular apps like Merlin appealing to younger generations, most birds don’t have the cuteness factor of a penguin or the fierce elegance of a hawk or an eagle. But people clearly find sandhill cranes captivating, whether it’s their size, their unique sound, or their quirky mating rituals. Or maybe it’s the sheer scale of it all.
“It’s just truly a bordering-on-spiritual thing to experience, to see that many of them in one place is incredible,” said Catterson.
Next year’s 44th Annual Monte Vista Crane Festival will be held from March 5-7 2027.
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