Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 22:17:22 -0700 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Greg Miller Subject: Crane Near Miss - 7/25 (verbose) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Howdy All! I winced as I edged into more traffic than I had anticipated on the Bay Bridge. The steady rain and dismal, gray skies made me wonder how smart I was for undertaking yet another crane chase. My 6 tries earlier this year for the Tarbutton Mill Rd bird had all turned up empty. But, such is life as a lister. And, of course, my old Miller Luck philosophy...just keep trying until you finally see it! At least I could have waited for sunshine...but then again, maybe the bird would not wait for sunshine. Ahh. The decisions to make in doing a "twitch"... The rain let up slightly in Easton and I was encouraged...and committed now, too. No turning back, even though my daylight time was going to be on the shy side. My attempts at pre-planning this trip were foiled yesterday by a 12-hr working spree in which I saved the entire human existence at least 3 times. This morning I was determined not to let the crane opportunity get away. I was at work at 5:50am will full intentions of an early afternoon departure. At 4:50pm, I was finally leaving work...what would the world do without me? 160 miles later, I arrived at 8:10pm in a steady rain at 1845 Hooper Island Rd. The flock of geese was in the back yard of the house to the north. I returned to a little pulloff at the sharp corner just to the north of 1845 and scanned the yards and nearby marsh. Much to my chagrin, the crane was not to be seen. How can I be missing a crane? It must not be here. A deep emptiness crept into my innards. The pain of a miss here was not what I was anticipating. I slowly drove south to the little marina with my windows down, searching both sides of the road. Nada. The it-was-here-with-killer-views-and-you-missed-it kind of pain was kinking my back and haunting my brain. I returned to 1845 again even more slowly, seats now wet with rain and my left arm and shoulder drenched. I stepped out at the curve again and counted the Canada Geese. 41. Still no crane. Where could it be? I forced myself to try to think where I could look next. Daylight was almost gone by 8:30pm. I recalled my trip to Nebraska last spring. The birds fed in the fields by day and many went to the Platte River to roost on the islands in the river at night. Hmm. Well, no big river here. But, how about the marshy area just to the north of the manicured lawns? Worth a check as it's on my way out anyhow. I really did NOT expect to actually be right...but I was. Ok. So it was a lucky guess. About 1/4 mile north of 1845 in the marsh on the east side of the road, I finally found the Sandhill Crane. It looked even more beautiful than I had imagined. A little worrying and birds look better. I was elated. #282 for the year for Maryland. 18 more to make this twitcher a very happy camper... Many thanks to Les Roslund for the terrific directions and for keeping all of here on MDOsprey informed on a great bird. After this 22-hr day, I'm ready for a good snooze...zzzz -Greg Miller Hollywood, MD __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get Yahoo! Mail =96 Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ========================================================================= ===========================================================================