Researchers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will conduct drone surveys over known locations of sandhill cranes in Klickitat County to assist with population monitoring.  WDFW says drone flights may occur when weather permits during daylight hours from April 1 through July 31 over identified state public lands and waters in western Klickitat County where sandhill cranes are present.  WDFW will seek pre-approval from other private or public landowners should the Department consider flights over additional lands.  The purpose of the surveys is to capture high-quality images of sandhill crane habitat to find and locate nest locations.  In 2024, WDFW biologists successfully identified sandhill crane nests at multiple locations within the survey area using drone technology.  Breeding sandhill cranes arrive in Klickitat and Yakima counties in early March, with most nesting occurring from April to June in wet meadows and grasslands.  The cranes and their young leave the state between late September and mid-October to winter in California’s Central Valley.  WDFW has listed all three subspecies of sandhill crane occurring in Washington as state endangered.