My wife, a non birder, saw a large white wading bird in the shallow water on the southwest shore of Lake Calhoun (adjacent to the Bakken Library) this morning at approximately 9:30. She described the bird as significantly larger than the egrets which are summer residents, and pure white "like a tundra swan" except for black feathers at the wing edges. One of the wings was hanging a bit oddly, giving easy glimpses of the black feathers, and the bird was preening at lake's edge as a group assembled on the running path. The bird had red on the face and head.. The bird was not skittish despite the group of morning runners and joggers who stopped to watch it at close range. A small group assembled, struck by the bird's size and proximity to the walking path. She described the bill as very large and straight, and the color of a fawn. She continued her run after spending about five minutes watching it. She called me immediately after returning home since, after consulting my bird guides, she thought the bird was identical to the picture of the whooping crane. I regret to say that the bird had left by the time she returned with her camera, and I rode around the three city lakes at 11:15 but saw nothing. Though my wife is not a birder, she is from Nebraska where she saw Sandhill Cranes, and she has joined me (passively) on birding walks for fifteen years, including annual trips to see the Tundra swans on the lower Mississippi. I have nothing else to verify this sighting, and however unlikely it might seem, I offer it only so others might keep their eyes open. Dave McIntosh
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