Well, we doubled our count of cranes from last week to 10.  That said, we are not seeing many cranes in the area during the day in other areas near the Sanctuary.  Families of 2 or 3 and small groups are being observed but no large gatherings yet.  The field crops have not all been harvested, and it has been quite warm. 

But when the crane counts are low we can watch all the other bird activity from the overlook and the trails.  There were a good variety of other species groups: ducks & water birds-11; sparrows & finches-8; raptors & shrike-8.

 Photo: Ross Green

This is the second week in a row having seen 5 Northern Harriers.  Our Northern Shrike is back so we are hoping we’ll be seeing him more as things cool down.

Crane counters:   Ross Green & Steve Jerant
Compiler:  Steve Jerant
Submitted by Steve Jerant

Crane Count:  10 (18 total observed)
Species count: 

50 species

92 Canada Goose

50 Wood Duck

5 Northern Shoveler

2 Gadwall

2 American Wigeon

28 Mallard

3 American Black Duck

3 Northern Pintail

10 Ring-necked Duck

2 Pied-billed Grebe

1 Mourning Dove

11 American Coot

18 Sandhill Crane -- 10 in marsh

1 Great Blue Heron

2 Great Egret

3 Turkey Vulture

1 Osprey -- Flying high over

5 Northern Harrier

1 Sharp-shinned Hawk

1 Cooper's Hawk

3 Bald Eagle

3 Red-shouldered Hawk

6 Red-tailed Hawk

1 Belted Kingfisher

2 Red-bellied Woodpecker

1 Downy Woodpecker

1 Pileated Woodpecker

1 Northern Flicker

1 Northern Shrike

12 Blue Jay

51 American Crow

1 Black-capped Chickadee

1 Tufted Titmouse

1 White-breasted Nuthatch

1 Carolina Wren

16 European Starling

12 Eastern Bluebird

47 American Robin

3 Cedar Waxwing

1 House Finch

1 American Goldfinch

1 Field Sparrow

7 White-crowned Sparrow

2 White-throated Sparrow

8 Song Sparrow

1 Lincoln's Sparrow

8 Swamp Sparrow

1000 Red-winged Blackbird

1 Rusty Blackbird

5 Yellow-rumped Warbler

Number of Taxa: 50

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S96406015

You can view past postings and historical crane counting data on the Haehnle web site at http://www.haehnlesanctuary.org/crane-count and