At 4:37 PM the sun came out.  Then at 4:41 PM, it clouded over and started to drizzle again.  But it was a beautiful moment.  Although it did get very dark, we had some openings, then a rainbow, a little one, but it came down just some hundred yards north of the apple tree below us.  Around 6:30 the sun broke through and lit up the marsh and the trees in the far distance.  Haehnle is really a great place to watch weather.

Ross and I worked the crane count this afternoon till after sundown. We saw 197 cranes with 147 of them staying the evening. We had several direct flyovers but most of the traffic came from the west.  We had some ducks in the close water and Trumpeter & Mute swans in the back water.  A pair of Wilson’s Snip did two flyovers for us. American Robins and of course blackbirds were in great abundance tonight. The robins buzzing over our heads and the blackbirds in the marsh. We even saw a few small murmuration.

Six visitors braved the conditions for a view of the cranes tonight.  The best viewing time for cranes in the last hour before sunset.

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

Crane Count: 197 (147 Stayed in Mud Lake Marsh)
Species count:  29

Canada Goose 6

Mute Swan 4

Trumpeter Swan 2

Wood Duck 19

Mallard 32

American Black Duck 5

dabbling duck sp. 20

Ring-necked Duck 12

Pied-billed Grebe 1

Sandhill Crane 197

Killdeer 1

Wilson's Snipe 2

Double-crested Cormorant 1

Great Blue Heron 1

Turkey Vulture 2

Northern Harrier 5

Red-bellied Woodpecker 1

Downy Woodpecker 1

Northern Flicker 1

Blue Jay 6

American Crow 1

Tufted Titmouse 1

European Starling 20

Eastern Bluebird 3

American Robin 250

Cedar Waxwing 27

White-throated Sparrow 2

Red-winged Blackbird 825

Common Grackle 6

blackbird sp. 100

Yellow-rumped Warbler 2

View Ross’s eBird checklist at https://ebird.org/checklist/S120869202