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 Jackson Audubon Society

 The Audubon Society of Jackson County, Michigan

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  • Haehnle Sanctuary Crane Count 10/12/2015

Haehnle Sanctuary Crane Count 10/12/2015

Monday, October 12, 2015 9:19 PM | Steve Jerant (Administrator)

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

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