Haehnle Sanctuary Crane Count 09/30/2024

By Don Henise

(Steve Jerant)

The crane numbers from our weekly Monday counts are heading in the wrong direction.  We started with 13 roosting cranes on the 16th of September, then 11 on the 23rd and most recently on Monday the 30th, we only had 6 cranes remaining to roost in the marsh. Relatively few Sandhill Cranes were even observed as flyovers, we only tallied a total of 35 cranes seen for the evening.

Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)(Don Henise)

Steve spotted a mole in front of the Eagle Lake observation deck digging around in the leaf litter. We couldn’t get good enough photos to identify it to species. At dusk a couple of bats were flying around the observation hill.

Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) (Don Henise)

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) (Don Henise)

A total of 39 bird species were observed with a Lincoln’s Sparrow calling from the brush to the right of the overlook, a pair of Trumpeter Swans out in the marsh and two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in the trees above the kiosk being some highlights. The sapsuckers were observed “hawking” insects in short bursts from the trees, a behavior neither of us had observed before.

Eastern Tailed-Blue (Cupido comyntas) (Don Henise)

Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum) (Don Henise)

Total Cranes Roosting: 6

Counters: Don Henise, Steve Jerant

Compiled by: Don Henise

Complete eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S197094557