The pain in my clicker thumb told me it was going to be a good night.  We counted a total of  2,506 cranes from the overlook. Of those, 1,681 will be spending the night.  2015 was the last year we broke the 1,000 crane milestone. Early traffic was coming in from the western side. Then the eastern approaches started to get very busy as well.  The count was about even between the two sides.  In the past weeks the west side brought in the most birds. We were seeing multiple groups of 20+ coming in from both sides.  This is activity we’ve not seen in many years.

Lots of ducks are coming in with Shovelers being well represented.

If you’ve never watched the cranes leave in the morning, tomorrow might be a good time to try. They leave in a relatively short period of time and it’s quite a spectacle.  This occurs shortly after sunrise.

Crane counters:   Gary Siegrist & Steve Jerant
Compiler:  Steve Jerant
Submitted by Steve Jerant

Crane Count:  1,681 (2,506 total observed)
Species count:  17

35 Canada Goose

6 Mute Swan

35 Northern Shoveler

8 Gadwall

15 American Wigeon

45 Mallard

4 American Black Duck

2506 Sandhill Crane -- 1681 In marsh

4 Ring-billed Gull

1 Northern Harrier

1 Red-tailed Hawk

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

1 Downy Woodpecker

1 Blue Jay

1 American Crow

6 Eastern Bluebird

150 Red-winged Blackbird

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S76617242

You can view past postings and historical crane counting data on the Haehnle web site at http://www.haehnlesanctuary.org/crane-count