This is looking to be a very good year for crane viewing. Crane numbers continue to rise this season and we spotted 555 cranes coming in to roost at Haehnle Sanctuary tonight. Visitors were treated to about a dozen groups of cranes flying directly above the Harold Wing overlook. They were close enough for us to hear the call of some juveniles. The colors were good, but muted due to the cloudy sky. We did have about 30 minutes of direct sunlight and later the low sun lit the tops of the clouds with pinks and purples.
In the 6 o’clock hour we had two separate steams of thousands of blackbirds coming in from the east and passing in front of us and reaching all the way across the marsh to the west. The first stream was well over a mile long. They traveled to a location where we normally see a lot of blackbird activity. But tonight the sky was boiling with activity. We continue to get Great Egrets coming in to roost.
This Saturday we will be having our annual Cranes, Colors, & Cabernet Festival at Haehnle Sanctuary starting at 1200. And we are celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Sanctuary. Come out and joins us!
Crane counters: Robyn Henise, Don Henise, and Garg Siegrist
Compiler: Steve Jerant
Submitted by Steve Jerant
Crane Count-555
Species count-37
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Green-winged Teal
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Ring-necked Duck
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sandhill Crane
Greater Yellowlegs
Wilson's Snipe
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
European starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Rufous-sided Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
