Haehnle Sanctuary & USFWS Crane Count 10/28/2024

By Don Henise

A Northern Shrike made its first appearance of the fall at in the afternoon. It worked the brush at the edge of the marsh for more than a half hour before it disappeared to the southeast. Dabbling duck numbers and species diversity continue to increase as the fall progresses. A pair of adult Bald Eagles perched in a dead snag out in the marsh were continually launching sorties and flushing the ducks into the air, allowing us to see large numbers of Gadwall, American Wigeon, American Black Ducks and other species in flight over the marsh. For the second week in a row a Merlin blasted over the lookout hill at dusk. See the checklist below for all species and numbers.

Total Cranes Roosting: 1,046

Counters: Robyn Henise, Don Henise

Compiled by: Don Henise

Complete eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S200657313

USFWS Annual Crane Count

By Steve Jerant

In addition to Don & Robyn counting at Haehnle, we had two other groups of counters in the area.  Ross Green and Mike Bowen west to the west and counted near the fields at the turn on Dalton Rd.  While they say lots of birds gathered in the field, none of them stayed the night.

Lathe Claflin and I went over to private property about 2 miles north.  I counted in a marsh area to the east.  I had nearly a hundred cranes down but then some of them left to move to the west.  My total was only 67.  There was a lot of cranes coming down to the south of me.   Lathe had better luck in his spot to the east.  Cranes came down in two separate areas and he tallied 261 and 762 in the two locations.