S T E A M B O AT
TODAY
SATURDAY
JUNE 20, 2009
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
®
Vol. 21, No. 147
RO U T T
S T E A M B O AT S P R I N G S
C O U N T Y ’ S
DA I LY
N E W S PA P E R
Caring for the cranes Locals help family of birds cross the road for years
Working hard for VNA
John F. Russell
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
SmartWool employees volunteer to landscape Rollingstone Respite House
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Page 2
S T E A M B O AT S P R I N G S
Mosquitoes start biting Extension agent suggests eliminating standing water or using larvicide Page 5
SPORTS
Mustang rally roars Page 25
Briefs . . . . . . . . .10 Business. . . . . . .32 Classifieds . . . . .35 Colorado. . . . . . .14 Comics . . . . . . . .33 Crossword . . . . .33
JOHN F. RUSSELL/STAFF
An adult sandhill crane tests the waters by crossing Routt County Road 42 in advance of its family. A few seconds later, another sandhill crane guided two chicks across the heavily traveled road.
■ LOTTO
■ INDEX Happenings . . . . .7 Horoscope . . . . .34 Nation. . . . . . . . .17 Sports. . . . . . . . .25 ViewPoints . . . . . .8 Weather . . . . . . .43
FREE
Friday night’s Cash 5 numbers: 1-5-6-11-20 Drawings are held Monday through Saturday.
■ WEATHER
Afternoon storm. High of 73.
Mary Barber sees them nearly every day in the spring. The longtime local watches as a family of sandhill cranes plays out a ritual that has stretched more than a decade. “They always nest in the marshy area near the pond, and once the chicks are big enough, they go across the road every morning, and they return every night,” she said Thursday. The birds’ slow and methodical march across the ranch lands west of Steamboat Springs usually goes unnoticed, but not by Mary and her husband, Glenn Barber. Mary says the route varies from day to day, but the basic path has remained pretty much unchanged since the birds started using the wetlands surrounding a small pond adjacent to their property. The birds spend the first few weeks each spring near the pond, which provides space for protection, mating and nesting. Once the chicks have hatched and grown, they begin to follow their parents on a daily odyssey across Routt County Road 42, to the open fields and another marshy area over the hill. In the evening, the parents and their offspring usually can be found making the return trip to the pond, where they are safe from foxes, coyotes and other predators. See Cranes, back page
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