Frank Enders asked me to post this, which I am happy to do. Frank is an experienced naturalist I have corresponded with about his Black Rail work. His daughter, Elisa, is a top birder in the Norfolk area. Frank's e-mail address is: fkenders at hotmail dot com - Harry Armistead.
I wonder if you could (or should) post this observation for me on MDOsprey.
Today, 21 January, my wife and I saw a flock of some 35-40 Sandhill Cranes flying over I-495. These birds were flying northward at about 8:30AM. I was driving I-495 (outer loop? of beltline, counterclockwise coming from Wilson Bridge), about to get on the exit to I-95 northbound toward Baltimore; I did stop on the shoulder of the exit ramp, but the birds were by then out of view.
We saw the flock of birds for some time (several minutes?); I first spotted them (straight ahead of my car's path) as a loose, wavering W formation ("Wavey"-like). I assumed at first these were some Canada Geese, as I could barely see the individual birds, seeing the "skein", rather. They were not that high in the sky, maybe at 3x to 5x the height of the tallest trees.
I pointed them out to my wife, Mary, who was in the front passenger seat, and she was able to see a lot more of the birds as the road curved such that the flock was no longer directly ahead of the car I was driving in moderate to heavy traffic. The roof of the car also started to block my view. She describes long necks/beaks stretched out in front and long legs dangling behind; I think I saw that, too, but if she did not see such, I could not be sure. The wingbeats and way the birds moved in the flock and the progression of the flock in the air were consistent with cranes rather than geese.
We have seen sandhills in Nebraska, Wisconsin and Tennessee, but no luck in the east. I know there are tens of reports of individuals and small flocks in the eastern states (above Georgia) in the last 1-2 years, but this is a very large flock.
Could it be that these birds which I am asking you to report for me are some sort of feral offshoot from the Patuxent research center, which are already well-known to MD birders, and so not worth reporting?
They seemed to have flown northward over the beltline and seemed to be coming down in the area between Beltsville, 95N, and the beltline.
If you have any questions about this, the easiest way to contact me is by phone, 252-583-7371, landline with answering machine--leave a message and tell me when I might most conveniently call you back. Or, cell phone (verizon) 252-532-7579.
Frank Enders, Halifax, NC
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