The pair of cranes in Meeker co. was observed from about 7:15-8:00 this morning. Both parties there looking for them were fortunate to see them flying (from what we presume to be the roost site) to the area they were feeding in yesterday evening, and again this morning. They flew from an area about 1.5 mi ENE of the feeding area. There is a lot of good looking crane habitat here. Had the birds not been out to feed in the corn stubble, finding them would have been difficult at best.
The birds only fed for about 40 minutes before they flew off to the NNE. They were low in flight, perhaps suggesting they didn't travel far. I did not see the Rice county bird last year, so could someone please let me know how it was marked. leg bands? any collar? radio transmitter visible? Both these birds had leg bands: bird #1 left leg- red over white, right leg- white over green over white bird #2 left leg- red over white, right leg- white over green over red We had fairly good looks through scopes from 150-200 yards and are reasonably certain these birds had no other "hardware" These birds appeared to be a mated pair (or had peculiar sexual preferences), as they were observed doing the crane dance several times. They vocalized once on the ground and once in the air. A totally awesome experience! Randy Frederickson Willmar p.s. I will return to the crane site this evening and post findings by Monday a.m. p.p.s. People looking for these birds and not finding them are strongly encouraged to share this information. It helps others still contemplating travel. (I cannot believe only two people looked for the Brown pelican on Saturday and there were only two posts).
