Media contact: Kate Fitzwilliams, Marketing/PR Specialist, 608-356-9462 ext. 147
Your purchase of the DVD Raising Kid Colt – A Story of a Young Sandhill Crane directly benefits the West Coast Program for Sandhill Cranes. Purchase your copy today!
Homer, Alaska – A perfect balance of entertainment and education, Raising Kid Colt – A Story of a Young Sandhill Crane, invites you into the exciting world of a wild Sandhill Crane couple and their parenthood adventures. The incredible footage and documentation of these cranes was captured by amateur videographer, Nina Faust, who happily shares her land in Homer, Alaska with a Sandhill Crane family.Filmed over a span of two summers as the cranes learned to trust their neighbors, Nina and Kachemak Crane Watch co-founder, Edgar Bailey, as well as their seven pet cackling geese and two pet alpacas. During the summer of 2010, the crane pair investigated the lands on “Inspiration Ridge Preserve” near their house, identifying food sources, roosting sites, and a nesting area.
“Ed and I feel very privileged to have been allowed to share the intimate daily lives of this crane family,” Nina explained. “Understanding the difficult challenges they had to overcome in raising their colt left us with a renewed respect for their enduring survival and the need to protect their diminishing habitat both here and in their wintering area.”
In spring of 2011 the two Sandhill Cranes returned, and in early May, before the snow was even gone, they laid their two eggs on an island nest in one of the Preserve’s ponds. Because of the rapport established with the cranes the summer before, Nina was able to get remarkable footage of the family’s daily life over the whole summer until the family migrated with the other local Homer cranes.
“This is a wonderful film which shows the intimate lives of a pair of wild cranes raising their young, and the proceeds will help support these birds through our conservation efforts in the Pacific Flyway. Nina’s commitment to cranes is truly appreciated,” said Gary Ivey, International Crane Foundation Western Crane Conservation Manager.
This 35-minute video, along with educational brochures, a Nesting Ecology Project, and a citizen science Sandhill Crane Count that Kachemak Crane Watch has sponsored, have encouraged renewed interest and enthusiasm towards Sandhill Cranes in the Homer area.
Founded in 1973, ICF is a non-profit conservation organization committed to a future where all crane species are secured in the wild – a future where people cooperate to protect and restore wild populations and their ecosystems. The success of ICF is possible solely through the generous support of our members and donors.