Cranes at Lac du Der
Common crane (Grus grus). Champagne, Haute-Marne/Marne, France.
Best time: 20 Oct – 20 Nov and 10 Feb – 10 Mar (February to March, October to November). Where: Site de Chantecoq (Lac du Der), Ferme aux Grues, Outines, Presqu'île de Champaubert (France). Time of day: Be under the flight line in the dark: departure waves from about 45 min before sunrise to 30 min after.
- You can go on your own
- Free
- Binoculars helpful
- Sound 5/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
- Peak 1: 20 Oct – 20 Nov — Mid October to late November: autumn passage, 100,000+ on record days
- Peak 2: 10 Feb – 10 Mar — Mid February to early March: return passage north — short stopovers, mid-February peak in most years
Active from 1 Oct to 20 Mar (October to March) in a typical year.
Time of day
Be under the flight line in the dark: departure waves from about 45 min before sunrise to 30 min after; the return from an hour before sunset until dusk, with the roost murmuring into the night.
- Dawn departure: 45 min before sunrise → 30 min after sunrise
- Evening return: 1 h before sunset → 30 min after last light
What will you hear?
Tens of thousands of cranes bugling as they leave the lake at first light in wave after wave, then the evening return with the sky full of trumpeting skeins.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. Cranes pass overhead in the half-dark; binoculars for the daytime flocks at the Ferme aux Grues.
Where to go
- Site de Chantecoq (Lac du Der) — Classic dawn viewpoint on the western shore; busy on November weekends. Map
- Ferme aux Grues, Outines — LPO-run feeding area and viewpoint for daytime flocks. Map
- Presqu'île de Champaubert — Church-on-the-lake viewpoint; evening returns. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Chantecoq: free car park on the dam at the Site de Chantecoq; the dam roads and viewpoints are open at all hours. Ferme aux Grues (Outines): free LPO viewpoint by day. Champaubert: park by the church. Public transport is poor — car needed.
Cost: Free.
Field-recording notes
Be under the flight line in the dark — the dam roads are open at all hours. Hunting is permitted on parts of the lake margins and surrounding fields in season; the roost itself is a reserve. Fog is common and helps: birds fly low and the road noise drops. LPO Champagne-Ardenne posts daily counts.
Sources
Similar spectacles
Spring crane staging: Hornborgasjön and PulkenThousands of cranes bugling in chorus — trumpeting that carries for kilometres, rising to a roar when a flock lifts; unison calls of pairs, wing noise of landing flocks, whooper swans and lapwings in the background.
Crane autumn staging: Rügen-Bock, Linum, Diepholz, MüritzWaves of trumpeting families flying in at dusk, the roost's night-long murmur over shallow water, dawn's mass departure with tens of thousands calling at once; greylag and white-fronted geese in the same flights.
Cranes at Laguna de GallocantaUp to 100,000 cranes lifting off the salt lagoon at first light in a continuous trumpeting roar that lasts half an hour, then skeins bugling over the steppe villages.
Pyrenean passes: raptor, stork, pigeon & crane migrationMostly visual, but woodpigeon flocks pass with a rush of wings, cranes bugle over the pass, and pre-dawn passerine flight calls stream through — with gunfire from the neighbouring hunting passes.
Cranes dancing on the dune heaths and bogsCrane pairs duetting and bugling across the wet dune slacks at first light, the dance's wing-flaps, curlew, golden plover and snipe drumming around them; ravens; the North Sea in Thy.
Wintering cranes in the Extremadura dehesaTens of thousands of cranes flying into the roosts at sunset in wave after wave, bugling in the acorn dehesa by day, with wintering lapwings, golden plovers and greylags.
More: all spectacles in France · cranes · bird migration hotspots · France in February · France in March · France in October · France in November