DECATUR, Ala. (AP) — In flooded agricultural fields near the Tennessee River, tens of thousands of sandhill cranes stand tall among broken corn stalks and shallow water searching for corn, berries, seeds and insects.

The sound and sight of so many cranes clustered together creates a chorus of trills, trumpets and honks throughout the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge Center in northern Alabama during the winter.

The annual migration of sandhill cranes brings bird-watchers in droves to see the tall birds up close, but also the chance to catch a glimpse of the rare and endangered whooping cranes that migrate in much smaller numbers to Wheeler. Alongside the cranes, plenty of other birds can be spotted at Wheeler, including geese, ducks, bald eagles, kestrels and hawks.

“It’s a birder’s paradise,” park ranger David Young noted.

The cranes, with their distinctive red foreheads and gray feathers, fly to Alabama from the Great Lakes annually. The sandhill cranes started staying overwinter at Wheeler starting in the mid-1990s and the numbers increased dramatically in the mid-2000s, Young said. Last year, the sandhill population that wintered at Wheeler reached a new record of 30,000 cranes.

“Here in the Tennessee Valley, we have three things that these cranes need,” Young said. “The wide open fields here around our visitor center. The leftover crop and the natural foods that they like to forage on in those fields. And then open mudflats and shallow water on the Tennessee River and its tributaries.”

The refuge has become a hotspot for birders to break out the binoculars and even get closer to the 4-foot (1.2-meter) tall cranes as visitors stay hidden behind photography blinds and a two-level observation center. An annual Festival of the Cranes in January brings more attention and visitors.

The cranes put on an impressive show, dancing on their slender legs, flapping their wings and sticking their long beaks in the air to vocalize with purring and squawks as they socialize.

Diana Maybury-Sharp, from Birmingham, regularly comes to Wheeler with friends to hike and look at birds.

“It’s pretty extraordinary. I’ve seen them in other parts of the country where there were just a few,” Maybury-Sharp said. “They’re not vocal like they are here. There’s so many here that it’s an unusual experience.”

The whooping cranes, part of the eastern migratory population that comes from Wisconsin, started migrating to Alabama in 2004 and their population is about between 12 and 20 each winter, said Young.

Whooping cranes were nearly wiped out in the early 1900s by hunters and loss of habitat from farming. Recovery and reintroduction efforts have slowly increased their wild and captive populations to more than 800, according to the International Crane Foundation.

Migratory whooping cranes depend on freshwater wetland habitats in Texas and the southeast, which could be affected by rising sea levels and droughts, according to the foundation.

They are sometimes hard to spot amongst the shorter crowd of sandhills, but their height and white feathers help them stand out. Young said the migration patterns of the cranes may change depending on the climate trends of both their nesting locations and their winter homes.

“It’s hard to say how long they will continue to winter here in north Alabama,” Young said. “And maybe they may not need to come this far south in the future. But for now, we’re really enjoying their presence and making sure to provide that habitat for them and the opportunity for people to view them here too.”

Rob Broeren, of Huntsville, brought along his telephoto lens and camera and found a good spot to practice his wildlife photography hobby. He comes to the refuge about a dozen times each year to photograph the birds and ducks.

“You just need to be patient and wait for them to do something interesting and make their calls,” Broeren said. “You get that cool shot and that’s a good day.”

Broeren was scouting locations for friends coming in from out of town who wanted a chance to see the rarest of cranes.

“Birders are big on a checklist of seeing lots of different birds,” Broeren said. “And so people that haven’t seen that species because it is quite rare are willing to drive kind of a long way if they think they have a good shot of seeing it.”

The sandhill cranes will start leaving the refuge in mid-February. Young said he notices a lot more agitation and activity when the birds are signaling they are ready to make the journey back to their nesting grounds.

“It’s usually on a day when we have some sort of a south wind,” Young said. “They’re smart and they will ride the wind back to their breeding grounds whenever it’s most convenient for them.”

Barry Dunning had one of those “kid shooting baskets in his backyard” moments on Saturday, and he did it for his hometown team against its biggest rival.

Dunning sank two free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining to give South Alabama a 64-63 victory over Troy in front a of season-best crowd of 5,148 at the Mitchell Center, keeping the Jaguars (15-5, 6-1 Sun Belt Conference) alone in first place. Dunning, Alabama’s Mr. Basketball at Mobile’s McGill-Toolen Catholic School in 2022, then got a hand on the Trojans’ inbounds pass to keep them from getting off a clean shot at the buzzer.

Dunning said he was thinking of his father, Barry Sr., when he went to the free-throw line in the final seconds.

“It just goes back to when I was a little kid,” Dunning said. “We shoot free throws every day after practice, but I gave my dad a game ball because he used to take me to the YMCA downtown, and we would just shoot free throws.

“A lot of my game comes from my Pop’s foundation, so I had to give him the game ball. I just remember the times at the YMCA, ‘It’s just you and the rim, son,’ just making free throws. I got his name, so that was us making that free throw together.”

That Dunning even had to be the hero at the end was a bit of a surprise, as the Jaguars led by 20 at halftime and by 10 with 4:31 to play. But Troy (11-7, 4-3) ramped up its defense in the second half, forcing 14 South Alabama turnovers — six straight at one stretch.

The Trojans got within one on Tayton Conerway’s 3-pointer with 1:20 left, then took their first lead since the first four minutes of the game at 63-62 when Jackson Fields hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 11.6 seconds remaining. Myles Corey’s driving layup for South Alabama missed and the ball went out of bounds off Troy with 2.9 seconds left, allowing the Jaguars to set up their final play.

Corey lobbed the ball in to Dunning, who got off a shot just as he was fouled by Troy’s Thomas Dowd. After Dunning made the free throws to put the Jaguars up one and then tipped the throw-in, the Trojans’ Myles Rigsby got to the loose ball and put up a half-court 3-pointer that missed badly at the buzzer.

“What a moment,” Riley said of Dunning. “He’ll remember that for the rest of his life. I gave him a big hug in the locker room. I said, ‘That’s why you came back home, man, for moments like that, to get to do that.’

“…It couldn’t have had a more special ending. I wish it wouldn’t have come down to that. I wish we would have cruised like we should have.”

Dunning led the Jaguars with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Judah Brown added 12 points — all in the first half — and Randy Brady chipped in 11 points with six boards. JJ Wheat scored 10, while John Broom had nine points, five rebounds and three blocks.

Conerway was the only Troy player in double-figures scoring, but took over the game in the second half. The senior guard finished with 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals despite sitting out a large chunk of the first half due to foul trouble.

“Our defensive intensity was better in the second half,” Troy coach Scott Cross said. “Because we were able to get some easier baskets, things opened up for us. Our guys got a little bit more confident. … It was just a momentum swing. And we had the momentum in the second half.

“They crushed us in the first half. Unfortunately, we didn’t show up and play the way we needed to in the first half. And they were lights out from the 3-point line.”

Despite its offensive and ball-handling woes in the second half, South Alabama’s Sun Belt-best defense didn’t take the day off. The Jaguars limited the Trojans to 35.1% shooting overall and 29% (9-for-31) from 3-point range and held them well below their season average of 74.1 points per game.

Troy went the final 8:25 of the first half without a field goal, making just two free throws during that stretch. Sparked by runs of 13-0 and 12-0, the Jaguars led 42-22 at halftime.

“Our defense held steady enough for us to be able to win,” Riley said. “You have games like this. There’s a lot of games where you don’t play your best for a half, sometimes the whole game.

“Those are the ones if you want to have a chance at the end of the year, you’ve got to find a way to some of those. Today we did that. Obviously we didn’t have our best stuff, but we found a way to gut it out and win it. We’ll take it. We certainly ain’t giving the win back.”

South Alabama is now 7-0 vs. the Trojans in Mobile under Riley, and continues its best start to Sun Belt play since the 2007-08 season. That happens to be the most-recent time the Jaguars reached the NCAA tournament.

Saturday also marked the first time the Jaguars have won a game decided by a single possession since Dec. 8, when they beat Jacksonville State 76-74. They were in a similar spot a week ago, but lost 71-63 in overtime to Old Dominion.

“Man, that was super exciting,” Brady said. “We started off good in the first half, kind of sloppy in the second half, but we pulled it off. A win is a win.”

South Alabama hits the road to face Louisiana-Monroe at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Troy is back home to face Southern Miss at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Kentucky will have to wait until closer to tip-off to find out if it will be at full strength when the Wildcats take the floor against the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday.

Point guard Lamont Butler had been listed as questionable (shoulder) on Friday’s late-night SEC availability report while power forward Andrew Carr was officially listed as probable (shoulder). The latter was removed from the game day report released by the league two hours ahead of tip-off, meaning he is available to play. As for the former, he is considered a game-time decision inside Rupp Arena.

Kerr Kriisa, out since Dec. 7 due to a fractured foot, was once again ruled out, as expected.

As for the Crimson Tide, they will once again be without Latrell Wrightsell Jr., Houston Mallette and Derrion Reid who missed the team’s loss to Ole Miss earlier in the week. Reid was listed as questionable on the initial report while Wrightsell Jr. and Mallette were declared out on Friday.

The SEC’s new basketball policy states that players must be listed as “out” (0% chance to play), “doubtful” (25% chance to play), “questionable” (50% chance to play), or “probable” (75% chance to play) in the first report on the night before conference games. On the final report released ahead of tip-off, players are designated as “available,” “game-time decision” or “out” in an effort to provide additional clarity.

Tip-off between No. 8 Kentucky and No. 4 Alabama is set for Saturday at noon EST on ESPN.

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