Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 20:52:06 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Arlene Ripley Subject: Sandhill Crane, Dorchester County, MD 7/28/00 Comments: To: MD-SMAS-GENERAL@LIST.AUDUBON.ORG Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Visited the Sandhill Crane on Hooper's Island (1845 Hoopersville Road) today (7/28). I parked along the road and was taking videos of the bird which was feeding on the lawn to the right and back of the garage near th= e crest of the hill. The property owners happened to be sitting on their porch and invited me to come up the driveway and from there I was able to walk near to where the bird was gleaning (with a dozen or so Canada Geese= ). A 500mm lens was overkill at this distance. I also took more videos. The property owners have invited anyone seeking the crane to WALK up thei= r driveway in order to get better views. Please do NOT drive up the drivewa= y. There is ample parking along the road. These are very nice people. They said that the bird arrives at about 7 AM and leaves in the evening betwee= n 6 and 7 PM. Apparently the bird has taken a liking to wild cherries. Ther= e is a large tree near the driveway and the bird has eaten enough of the cherries to leave significant piles of "pits" on the lawn. I guess the description of this bird being an opportunistic feeder is very appropriat= e. ////// Arlene Ripley | || Calvert County, MD | 0 || aripley@nestbox.com | || http://www.nestbox.com || ========================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =========================================================================