The four of us met in Asheville that morning bound for the wildlife spectacle along the Hiwassee River in southwestern Tennessee. Many of the local lakes were still frozen, so the largest concentration of sandhill cranes in the Southeastern United States (outside Florida) was not in the wildlife refuge but along the shores off the Hiwassee River.

The cranes, along with thousands of ducks, were standing around on the sand bars or feeding along the semi-frozen shoreline.

Hundreds were also feeding in the nearby fields among the cattle — a quite amazing sight really. Not quite the African savanna, but almost. Small flocks of American pipits also fed in the fields, and large flocks of red-winged blackbirds wheeled and landed amongst the unconcerned livestock.

A new visitor center had been built down on the end of Blyth’s Ferry Road honoring the Cherokee removal along the Trail of Tears, which was a peaceful site to spend a little time before heading to the new overlook high on a bluff over the Hiwassee River. The cranes were still distant, so we looked for a closer vantage point on the other side of the river (another part of Blyth’s Ferry Road).

The rest of the late afternoon

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