I was cycling in the Vienne department of France some days ago and stopped to drink some water. I heard strange sounds above me and looked up. I saw maybe eighty cranes flying at around 100 meters height in a V-formation North-East. A short while later another two formations followed. It was a magnificent sight. The birds constantly 'talk' to each other. I interpreted it as mutually reassuring sounds: we are flying toward our summer breeding places, everything is fine. Last November I saw the cranes flying South-West to their winter refuges (in Central and Southern France).