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Baker Sanctuary

Crane Count

Crane Viewing

Trails

CraneFest

Guidelines

Geocaching

Weather
Programs
Refuge of Flora and Fauna
Big Marsh Lake
Finding Baker Sanctuary
Meadow and Marshland Trail
Sandhill Crane
Fast Facts
Sandhill Crane Natural History
Finding Cranes in Michigan
Finding Cranes in the U.S.A.
Founding of Baker Sanctuary
Lawrence H. Walkinshaw
Site Contents
Contact Information



Bernard W. Baker Sanctuary
Calhoun County, Michigan, U.S.A.

Michigan Audubon's
First Sanctuary

Established 1941
Updated 3/9/10
Michigan Audubon Society's first sanctuary, Baker Sanctuary, established 1941

Inset mapBaker Sanctuary, located in northwest Calhoun County, is a Michigan Audubon sanctuary. There is a resident manager for the land as well as a governing board who manage the area. The local (Battle Creek) Michigan Audubon chapter, Brigham Audubon Society, is the sanctuary steward. Both financial and volunteer public support are essential to its continued maintenance.

Map to Baker Sanctuary

Contributions to Baker Sanctuary can be made through Michigan Audubon.

Trails

The Doty Native Wildflower Trail and the Meadow and Marshland Trail are open year-round. Big Marsh Lake is not accessible from either trail and is visible from the Kiwanis Youth Area only.


Guidelines

Michigan Audubon encourages educational activities and research, with written permission, on its sanctuary lands. Hunting, trapping, fishing, horseback riding, fires, domestic pets and motor vehicles are prohibited. No collecting of any kind is allowed.

Geocaching

Michigan Audubon allows geocaching in its sanctuaries subject to its published policy.

Michigan Audubon Geocaching Policy

Michigan Audubon, established in 1904, is Michigan's oldest conservation organization. It has worked through the years to study and preserve wild birds, plants, animals and their habitats as well as enlighten the public of their importance.

Contributions to Baker Sanctuary can be made through Michigan Audubon.

Bird Watcher's DigestHelp support Michigan Audubon by subscribing to Bird Watcher's Digest.

BWD will generously donate $10 to Michigan Audubon for every new one-year subscription sold through this website.

A NEW one-year subscription costs just $19.99! Subscribe by internet using this special Bird Watcher's Digest form or call 800-879-2473 (Mon – Fri, 8 am – 5 pm EST).

Bird Watcher's Digest . . . Read a Little—Learn a Lot!
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Sandhill Crane at Baker Sanctuary ® Roy Van Loo, Jr. 2006
SPACER

2010 Programs

March 20 Marsh Madness

9:00 – 11:00 AM

April 10 Invasive Species Herbicide Wand Workshop (Paul MacNellis)

10:00 AM – 2:30 PM

April 17 Baker Lodge Clean Up Day

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

spacerWildflower Walk

spacer3:00 – 4:30 PM

May 9 Wood Warblers (Dr. Fleming)

9:30 – 11:30 AM

May 22 Tree Identification (Jim Hewitt)

9:30 – 11:30 AM

June 26 Full Moon Walk

9:30 – 11:00 PM

July 17 Wildflower Walk dress appropriately for deer flies, insect repellant recommended

10:30 AM – Noon

July 31 Dragonfly Walk (D.J. McNeil and Dr. Fleming) dress appropriately for deer flies, insect repellant recommended

3:00 – 5:00 PM

August 7 Butterfly Walk (D.J. McNeil and Dr. Fleming) dress appropriately for deer flies, insect repellant recommended

10:00 AM – Noon

August 14 Wildflower Walk

10:00 AM – Noon

September 11 Wildflower Walk

3:00 – 5:00 PM

September 11 Fall Photography (brief introduction class)

10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

October weekends Crane Viewing evenings 

October 9 and 10 CraneFest XVI

Noon – 7:00 PM

December 4 Basics of Bird Ffeeding, Township Hall

10:00 – 11:30 AM

For information and registration contact Wendy Tatar, Michigan Audubon Program Coordinator, at 517-886-9144 or wendy@michiganaudubon.org

CraneFest XVI

Sixteenth Annual
Sat & Sun, Oct 9 & 10, 2010

CRANEFEST INFORMATION

Greater Sandhill Crane

Among the world's oldest living bird species, the Greater Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) stands four to five feet tall with a wing span up to seven feet. Baker Sanctuary, Michigan Audubon's first sanctuary and America's first crane sanctuary, is a nesting area and migratory staging area for Michigan's largest bird.
SANDHILL CRANE INFORMATION

Sandhill Crane Slide Show by Grand Rapids Press

Hear Crane Calls


Crane Viewing

Kiwanis Youth Area
(adjacent to Baker Sanctuary)
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC OCTOBER WEEKENDS ONLY.

2010
Oct 2–3, Sat–Sun, 4–7 pm EDT
Oct 9–10, CraneFest XVI
Oct 16–17, Sat–Sun, 4–7 pm EDT
Oct 23–24, Sat–Sun, 4–7 pm EDT
Oct 30, Sat, 4–7 pm EDT
Oct 31, Sun, 3–6 pm EST

2009 Crane Count: 9,382

November 2, 2009 – The official USFWS count of Greater Sandhill Cranes (grus canadensis) at Baker Sanctuary began at 2:00 PM EST under partly cloudy skies with a variable breeze of 5-15 MPH and a temperature of 53º F. The count concluded at 6:02 PM EST with mostly overcast skies, a full moon, a slight breeze, and a temperature of 46º F. The total number of cranes counted by eight independent counters and spotters was the largest number of cranes ever counted at Baker Sanctuary, 9,382. This establishes a new state record for the largest single-day Greater Sandhill Crane population at any single Michigan location!

The Baker Sanctuary count is part of the USFWS coordinated fall survey throughout eastern North America that began in 1979. This survey is the best estimate of the size and trends of the Eastern population of Greater Sandhill Cranes. In 2007, the eastern Greater Sandhill Crane population stood at 35,945. Michigan’s 16,707 cranes counted in 2007 comprised nearly half of this total with 8,528 counted at Baker Sanctuary. This was the previous single day Michigan count record.


Population Trend of Great Lakes Greater Sandhill Crane, 1979–2008

The breeding grounds of the Eastern (or Great Lakes) population are in southcentral Canada, the western Great Lakes, and the Upper Midwest (southern Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, northern Illinois and Iowa, and southeastern Minnesota).


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Contact

Mike Boyce, Resident Manager
MAS Baker Sanctuary
21145 15 Mile Road
Bellevue, MI 49021

269-763-3090
manager@bakersanctuary.org
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