February 24, 2025
Birders Flock to Sandhill Crane Festival
Along the highway leading to the Sandhill Crane Festival in Birchwood, Tennessee, cows and crows huddled against the biting wind.
Temperatures would plummet through the day and settle to a brittle 10 degrees by nightfall.
But the sandhill cranes didn’t care.
They seem to relish the raw weather, just as people relish the chance to watch them.
Growing up to 5 feet tall, these migratory birds arrive each winter from the northern U.S. and Canadian plains.
That’s when crowds of birders flock to the shores of Hiwassee Reservoir in southeast Tennessee, where the cranes chortle and honk, soar and duck and wheel their way over fields rich in grain and onto mud flats where crustacean meals wiggle.
The annual celebration of all things sandhill crane is made possible through a partnership between the Tennessee Valley Authority, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and other organizations.
“I love the cranes and the other birds,” said Tim Bagwell, who came to the festival for a second year with his wife Margaret, from Ringgold, Georgia. “I love capturing the moment. You can tell a story with a photo and this is a fantastic area to do that.”
Sandhill cranes circle the drawn-down Hiwassee Reservoir shores in the sun of a previous year’s Sandhill Crane Festival. (Photos by Susan Ehrenclou / TVA)
Birchwood Beginnings
Each year, people make the pilgrimage to Birchwood with tripods, binoculars, cameras and kids in tow.
Warm school buses run in a loop, offering the chance to gaze into spotting scopes and learn about Cherokee traditions at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and Cherokee Removal Memorial. Guests enjoy music, educational booths and vendors in the Birchwood Community Center’s warm auditorium.
On the bus, people buzzed with excitement as they peered out windows at winter-brown fields.
“I don’t consider myself a birder, but I’m absolutely fascinated,” Tim said. “We came in February last year and there were maybe 10,000 birds.”
They described seeing white pelicans and bald eagles on past kayaking trips to the refuge.
“I just love coming out,” Margaret said. “I love to watch and listen to birds.”
A woman in the seat behind, overhearing, pulled out her phone to introduce them to the Merlin bird identification app, and they drew their heads close.
The festival is a highlight for Mime Barnes, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency communications and outreach coordinator.
“Connecting agency staff and skilled volunteers with visitors to learn about wildlife and sandhill cranes – and inviting people to spend time exploring the outdoors – are goals of the Sandhill Crane Festival,” Barnes said.
“I love it. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year.”
Tim and Margaret Bagwell came to the Sandhill Crane Festival to see the magnificent big birds – cranes and pelicans – overwintering at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.
If You Build It, They Will Come
Until TVA built dams that created inland reservoir lakes in the Tennessee Valley region, sandhill cranes didn’t stop here at all. They migrated to the ocean coasts.
Today, wide mudflats – exposed when TVA draws their reservoir levels down each winter – offer cranes and other migratory birds places to rest and forage for insects and crustaceans. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency manages the Wildlife Refuge habitat and partners with farmers who plant fields of grain for cranes to graze.
That means from October to February each year, the public can see these once-endangered animals up close.
As the bus arrived at the refuge, huge creamy tan-and-gray birds crowded the fields, soared and wheeled in the sky and pumped their powerful wings to take off in tandem.
“This is incredible,” one person whispered.
“There are so many,” another said.
The bus doors swung open and the air filled with raucous honks and squawks raining down from cranes in farm fields and wheeling toward the water.
Tim grinned.
“I forgot,” he said. “The best part is the sound.”
Wide mudflats on TVA’s drawn-down reservoir shores offer places for migratory sandhill cranes to rest after they feed on grain fields nearby.
‘That One Perfect Moment’
Two kids bundled in puffy coats traipsed from the bus with their dad. Parker, 6, kept his hands in his pockets and his eyes on cool tree stumps. Connor, 10, peered at the display of his new camera, focused on sandhill cranes.
“He’s working on his life list,” their dad, Matt Mundall, said. “He’s very scientific about it.”
Volunteer Bernie Swiney, who retired after working for 40 years as an officer and land management biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, smiled at the birdwatchers.
“I like seeing the public, how wide-eyed and golly-gee whiz they are – especially the kids,” Swiney said.
He stood in front of the log cabin to help public attendees focus on cranes through spotting scopes.
Here the view stretched for miles across the reservoir and into farm fields beyond – as did the bitter wind.
“This is the coldest spot in three counties,” Swiney said.
Still, for birders like Connor, it’s worth it. The Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and nearby Cherokee Removal Memorial are great places to see bird life big and small, rare and common, year-round.
Sharing the sky with slow-motion cranes that swirled and circled and pulled up to plant their feet in the chilled fields, smaller birds flocked and chittered. Clouds of them moved together like schools of fish turning left and right as one.
Volunteer and Cleveland State Community College student Isaac Itofe, who hopes to pursue a career in wildlife and fisheries management, stood ready with a marker to record bird species spotted both here at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and at Cherokee Removal Memorial, where TVA has permanent spotted scopes mounted at an overlook.
“We just saw a whooping crane about an hour ago,” one photographer said.
Another nodded. “I saw it, too. And there was a golden eagle spotted fishing through the ice a couple of years ago.”
As they talked, another bus arrived with a load of excited passengers.
Some spread out to the spotting scopes. Others headed to the field edges near the Bagwells, who had found a quiet spot along a fenceline.
Margaret pointed to two birds lifting off to soar over the blur of winter-bare branches.
Tim clicked the camera shutter and grinned.
“That’s the adventure – waiting for that one perfect moment,” Tim said. “And here that happens every few minutes.”
Photo Gallery
New photographer Connor Mundall, 10, gets tips from his dad Matt at the Sandhill Crane Festival.
Sandhill cranes swoop in groups as they feed in farm fields near Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.
Birdwatchers brave dropping temperatures to watch magnificent sandhill cranes at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge during the Sandhill Crane Festival.
Sandhill cranes fly over Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge waters in winter.
Isaac Itofe, a student at Cleveland Community College, volunteers to keep lists of birds spotted at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.
Susan Ehrenclou, TVA writer, measures up against bird wingspans at the Sandhill Crane Festival.
Sandhill cranes dance in a painting at the Sandhill Crane Festival.
Sandhill Crane Festival
Each January, the Sandhill Crane Festival celebrates the overwintering of approximately 20,000 sandhill cranes on the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, as well as the water and land management that makes it possible. It brings up to 4,500 visitors to the area to see sandhill cranes, eagles, pelicans and other birds.
The festival happens thanks to a partnership among TVA, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the American Eagle Foundation, Birchwood Area Society Improvement Council, educators and other organizations.
People can birdwatch year-round at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and enjoy TVA-installed spotting scopes along an ADA-accessible overlook at the Cherokee Removal Memorial.