Date: 12/10/12 1:26 pm
From: Phil Davis <pdavis...>
Subject: Fwd: Re: [MDBirding] Sandhill Crane, Huntingtown, 12/9


Hi MD Birders:

FYI, this is from a friend of mine who lives in the Huntingtown area.
I don't believe he is subscribed to this list, so I will go ahead and
attach his cool photo of the crane.

Phil


>Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:39:39 -0500
>Subject: Re: [MDBirding] Sandhill Crane, Huntingtown, 12/9
>From: Michael Roane <roane.michael...>
>To: Phil Davis <pdavis...>
>
>Hi Phil,
>
>Thanks again for letting me know about the Sandhill Crane. I went
>looking for it this morning. Started out at the farm field on the
>corner of Hunting Creek Road and Wayne Gibson where it had been
>spotted yesterday, but didn't see it. I decided to go down Deep
>Landing Rd and went nearly to the end without seeing it. Turning
>around, I started back scanning not only fields, but people's lawns,
>since most reports said it was on lawns. Coming up past Enterprise
>Ct., I looked over and thought, "Huh, the crane has become so
>popular in the area someone put up a lawn ornament." (11:00
>AM) Then, I realized it was the actual crane. It was standing
>motionless on a little hummuck of hay in the side yard of the house
>right on the corner (with the Trophy boat in the driveway).
>
>I stopped and took some photos and it began to forage around on the
>lawn a little. A woman who lived in the neighborhood, stopped her
>car to talk for a minute. She had seen it over recent days, but
>didn't realize it was a Sandhill Crane and that it was so far out of
>it's range. Wouldn't you know, while we were talking, it took off
>and flew back towards Hunting Creek Road. It never fails. Someone
>will always be wanting to talk at the most inopportune times - and
>you don't want to appear unfriendly.
>
>I packed it in and went back to Wayne Gibson Rd. (11:30), parked on
>the corner and scanned the yards in the area to see if I could spot
>it. Just as I turned to give up, I spotted it in the back yard of
>2830 Hunting Creek Road - almost directly across the street from
>Wayne Gibson. It foraged in that yard for about an hour, appearing
>to be eating worms. It would sink almost the entire length of it's
>bill into the lawn and , although I could never actually see worms,
>I'm pretty sure that was what it was eating.
>
>It eventually moved to the corn field on the corner of Wayne Gibson
>and was eating corn left from harvesting the field. It was there 20
>or 30 minutes, then moved to a mud puddle in the driveway of the
>barn and drank from it. From there it crossed back over the road
>into the yard of the house directly across from the barn. That is
>when I decided to leave. I was hoping it would fly again, but it didn't.
>
>I would say it is quite familiar with all the lawns in that
>neighborhood and might be spotted at any time by anyone wanting to
>see it. It was spooked by my presence, but I moved slowly and moved
>closer only while it was not looking. I probably got as close as
>fifty feet to it at times. From the mud on it's bill up near the
>lores, I would say it has sunk it's entire bill into the ground
>looking for worms at times.
>
>I'll send you some of the pictures once I have processed them and I
>will probably put it on my blog in the next couple days. I'll send
>you the link once I do. I couldn't post to the Birding News site
>about the siting. If you wanted to do it as proxy, that would be okay with me.
>
>Thanks again,
>Mike Roane
>
>On Sun, Dec 9, 2012 at 7:22 PM, Phil Davis
><<mailto:<pdavis...><pdavis...> wrote:
>Hi Mike:
>
>I don't know if you chased the Sandhill Crane back in Sep or if you
>are following the MD Birding group, but the crane is back ...
>
>You can find older messages from the last few days with locations, here ...
>
>
><http://birding.aba.org/maillist/MARY>http://birding.aba.org/maillist/MARY
>
>Phil
>
>
>--
>Best regards,
>Mike Roane
>
>Follow me on...
><http://mroane.zenfolio.com/>http://mroane.zenfolio.com
>http://roound.com/mroane
><http://mroane.blogspot.com/>http://mroane.blogspot.com
><http://facebook.com/roane.michael>facebook.com/roane.michael

==================================
Phil Davis Davidsonville, Maryland USA
mailto:<PDavis...>
==================================

--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
Posts can be sent to the group by sending an email to <mdbirding...>