It was a lovely warm afternoon for our first count under Standard Time.  The temperature was great and no mosquitos.  Also, no cranes, staying overnight anyway.  We did count 43 cranes, 8 of which were in the marsh but left before sundown.  Even though the count was low, 18 of those birds did fly over the Harold Wing Overlook so we could get a good view of these Sandhill Cranes we’re always talking about.  I did not hear any juveniles in those fly-bys.

The ducks were very active, and we counted 8 species of waterbirds.  The raptor activity was good with an early sighting of several Bald Eagles then a low flyover right as we were leaving. 

Cranes are active in the surrounding areas, including good numbers (over 1000) in the Hawkins/Dalton Rds. Areas west of the Sanctuary.

Crane counters:   Ross Green, Gary Siegrist, Don & Robin Henise, and Steve Jerant
Compiler:  Steve Jerant
Submitted by Steve Jerant

Crane Count:  0 (43 total observed)
Species count:  32

50 Canada Goose

30 Wood Duck

12 Gadwall

3 American Wigeon

3 Green-winged Teal

100 Ring-necked Duck

1 Pied-billed Grebe

5 American Coot

43 Sandhill Crane

3 Northern Harrier

6 Bald Eagle -- 2 in marsh, 3 flying by inc. 2 immature plus one flyover as we were leaving

3 Red-tailed Hawk

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

1 Pileated Woodpecker

2 Northern Flicker

2 Blue Jay

10 American Crow

2 White-breasted Nuthatch

1 Carolina Wren

300 European Starling

9 Eastern Bluebird

10 American Robin

60 Cedar Waxwing

5 House Finch

3 American Goldfinch

2 White-throated Sparrow

1 Song Sparrow

700 Red-winged Blackbird

7 Rusty Blackbird

27 Common Grackle

1 Yellow-rumped Warbler

1 Northern Cardinal

Number of Taxa: 32

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S97326016

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