Video: Sandhill cranes put on a show of prairie pageantry while performing spring mating dance ritual

Dan Svedarsky has a window to the world of the prairie from his home in Polk County east of Crookston.

On Saturday, May 10, Svedarsky watched a prairie hoedown, of sorts, from his living room window when a pair of sandhill cranes walked into view from a nearby swamp.

So began the courtship dance, a rite of spring for sandhill cranes, and Svedarsky was able to capture the performance on video.

“Once they hit the ‘dance floor’ opening they sprang into action,” Svedarsky writes in an email sharing the video. “I was able to get a little footage out the living room window.”

We’ve added what Svedarsky calls “anthropomorphic acoustics,” putting the prairie pageantry to music and posting it here.

Who knows, Svedarsky says, you might pick up a dance step or two.