Save Our Sandhill Cranes

02/07/2026

Come and see us at our booth at the Galt Winter Bird Festival. We’ll be here until 3pm!

12/29/2025

We often get asked where the cranes go when they’re not on their wintering grounds here in the valley. Here’s a blog post that delves into that a little bit and what our friend Nina Faust is doing at the other end of the flyway to conserve vital breeding habitat for our cranes. Check it out!

In August of 2023 I made my first trip to Homer, a few days of solo adventure before joining a group tour in Anchorage. Though I was dreadfully bleary and jetlagged, I was immediately captivated by…

09/17/2025

Mark your calendars! Come visit us at our table at the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival November 8-9.

05/04/2025

Craniacs! Come join us in a couple of weeks for a wonderful, family-friendly event to celebrate the wildife and wild places of the Sacramento Valley. We’ll have a table at this event, and will be there to answer all of those burning Sandhill Crane questions you’ve been dying to have answered! Make sure you stop by to say hi and learn about ways YOU can help preserve habitat, and help save OUR Sandhill Cranes.

01/28/2025

Here’s something fun for you and your family to do this weekend!

09/17/2024

They’re baaaaaaaaaack! Keep your eyes, and especially ears, open for Sandhill Cranes returning to the Central Valley. You’ll often hear them
High in the sky as they migrate down through the valley to their wintering grounds.

The first few Sandhill Cranes were spotted at the Preserve!
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📸: Jiunyeh Liv

04/18/2024

We here at SOSCranes are also very big fans of our President, Mike Savino! Mike works tirelessly to educate and advocate for Sandhill Cranes in the Sacramento region. Shout out to Mike and everyone else who volunteers their time and efforts to help restore and preserve wild places.

Happy National Volunteer Week!
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Thank you to all of the amazing volunteers who give their time, effort, and love to the Cosumnes River Preserve! Your efforts are so valuable and so appreciated! We couldn't do it without you.
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Next time you visit the Cosumnes River Preserve don't forget to thank a volunteer.

📸 Mike Savino - Wood Duck box route leader and long time volunteer.

02/25/2024

The time has come in California’s Central Valley for Sandhill Cranes to begin their migration back to their breeding grounds. Keep your eyes and ears peeled! We’re already anxiously awaiting their return in the fall.

11/29/2023

It’s Giving Tuesday!

Here’s some things we are currently working on:

Our organization is working tirelessly on reviewing and editing a crane conservation strategy for the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta.

We are working on crane impacts associated with the Delta Conveyance project.

We are working with stakeholders to identify and conserve important agricultural resources for cranes.

Your support helps us get these things done, and all of your donations will go directly towards these efforts to help protect habitat for Sandhill Cranes and allow us all to enjoy them for future generations.

Save Our Sandhill Cranes (SOS Cranes) is a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining open-space habitat and the conservation of the California Central Valley's Sandhill Crane populations through education, outreach, and community activism. Of particular concern to SOS Cranes are the threats t...

11/27/2023

One of the questions we most often get is: Where do the cranes that are in the Sacramento Valley come from? This map from the International Crane Foundation helps show some of the areas occupied by Sandhill Cranes in the Pacific Flyway throughout the year. Take special note of how small the wintering areas are compared to the breeding areas; this is one of the reasons why we focus so much on conserving crane habitat in the Sacramento Valley. Feel free to reach out to us with any other questions you may have!

11/15/2023

“Karma is my bird-friend.”-Taylor Swift

Hello Craniacs!

Sandhill Crane viewing season is in full effect here in the Central Valley. While we are no longer offering our free sandhill crane viewing tours as an organization, we have several of our board members who volunteer with Cosumnes River Preserve to help lead their free tours on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month throughout the season. Demand is HIGH, as all available tours are currently SOLD OUT. Check out https://www.eventbrite.com/o/cosumnes-river-preserve-10868733267 to reserve spots for the last couple of tours at the end of January and in February. Slots for January 27th will be available at 12:00am on December 2nd, so don’t miss out!

Of course, we are always happy to help and offer suggestions for you to go out and enjoy the cranes on your own, so if you have any questions, just drop us a line!

02/01/2020

FREE BIRD FESTIVAL THIS SATURDAY!

Save Our Sandhill Cranes will be at the 13th annual Galt Winter Bird Festival, this Saturday, Feb 1st. It is free and family-friendly. Drop by our table and say hello! Details can be found at http://www.ci.galt.ca.us/city-departments/parks-recreation/winter-bird-festival

Last weekend we concluded our final two scheduled crane tours of the season. The cranes are still around, but in a few weeks they will start moving north to their nesting grounds. Therefore we have not scheduled any tours for February. However, we can arrange special group tours if you want to take a chance and try to find them with our help. Although we are not doing scheduled tours, we are still going out to enjoy our last chances to view the cranes. We will continue until they are gone. After March we will experience "crane deficit disorder" until they return next September. Enjoy our beautiful outdoors until we see you again.

Winter Bird Festival offers nature enthusiast of all ages more than 20 individual activities, including exclusive preserve tours, educational presentations, wildlife shows, art displays, wine walk, hometown history, hands-on activities, guest speakers and more. More than 2,000 participants each year...