Around 10:45 this morning, as I was working at home with the window open, I heard a single SANDHILL CRANE give out it’s loud, prehistoric-sounding, bugling calls, twice. I scrambled downstairs with sunglasses, binoculars, and camera, expecting a high-flying migrant.
To my surprise, the bird was actually quite low, perhaps only 200 feet up. It was flying roughly from ENE to WSW, perhaps angling more Westward as it went out of sight, seemingly following above the Route 366 and Route 13 side of Fall Creek in Etna. This bird was bugling repeatedly, about once every 5-10 seconds. Because it was so low, and with so many trees in the way, I was only able to snap a single distant and blurry butt-end shot of the bird flying away. Classic Sandhill Crane with long straight neck, long trailing legs, long broad wings with noticeable primaries, and shallow, quick-snapping wingbeats. Hope someone else also saw this bird or relocates it in a wet field somewhere, such as the Hanshaw Road or Freese Road fields or other fields near Varna—so many possibilities. First Sandhill Crane in Etna for me! Sincerely, Chris T-H -- Chris Tessaglia-Hymes PO Box 488 8 Etna Lane Etna, NY 13062 607-351-5740 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
