Life History Cranes arrive in their summering areas and begin nesting very early, occupying hummocks that provide islands of spring in a generally snow-clad landscape. Their two eggs usually hatch by early July and the chicks immediately leave the nest to forage under the watchful eyes of their parents. Predators like arctic foxes and gaugers generally will not brave the beaks and wings of the adults unless driven by hunger. Flowering heads of cottongrass are a favorite. Nesting success may be related to the abundance of this crop in some cases, not only because of its food value to cranes, but because it also may encourage an abundance of lemmings, which divert predators' attention from crane eggs and young.
Adults molt during the summer, leaving beautiful gray-rusty feathers strewn about the tundra.
They regain flight about the time that the young begin flying, toward late August. Shortly thereafter the families gather in large flocks and head southeast toward wintering areas in the southern United States and northern Mexico. A large proportion of the entire Asian population of perhaps 50,000 individuals may cross the Bering Strait in a few days. Management Cranes worldwide are a generally imperiled group, but the sandhill cranes of Beringia provide a success story. Part of that success is based on the crane's habit of nesting in an area of the world not heavily impacted by people.