DECATUR, Ala. — Each winter, tens of thousands of cranes migrate to North Alabama, turning Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge into one of the region’s most unique wildlife destinations. This weekend, that migration is being celebrated with the annual Festival of the Cranes.
More than 20,000 Sandhill Cranes are wintering at Wheeler Refuge. The birds are attracted to the refuge’s mostly undisturbed wetlands and leftover crops from local farmers who leave portions of their yearly harvest as food for the cranes.
Sandhill Cranes first began arriving at Wheeler in the mid-1990s. Nearly a decade later, Whooping Cranes — one of the most endangered birds in the world — started visiting as well…