Sandhills?
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
Most Nantucketers would think - "Sandhills? Perhaps you mean sand dunes?" We have plenty of them on Nantucket. Their formations are viewed as protecting the edges of our shrinking island from the ravages of the sea. Who would ever call one a sand hill? The answer is - Nebraskans.
It turns out that sand hills are actually grass-covered sand dunes. They are similar to our dunes but they are in central Nebraska, in a huge area of almost 20,000 square miles. They're big piles of - mostly sand - and up to 300 feet high. This week's bird is named for them, the Sandhill Crane. The scientific name is Grus canadensis, because the original specimen came from Canada.
Read full story here
Most Nantucketers would think - "Sandhills? Perhaps you mean sand dunes?" We have plenty of them on Nantucket. Their formations are viewed as protecting the edges of our shrinking island from the ravages of the sea. Who would ever call one a sand hill? The answer is - Nebraskans.
It turns out that sand hills are actually grass-covered sand dunes. They are similar to our dunes but they are in central Nebraska, in a huge area of almost 20,000 square miles. They're big piles of - mostly sand - and up to 300 feet high. This week's bird is named for them, the Sandhill Crane. The scientific name is Grus canadensis, because the original specimen came from Canada.
Read full story here
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