Tonight an alert friend gave us the gift of a Lifer, texting around 6:00 (I think) that he'd spotted Whooping Cranes just inside the Rice county line, less than a half mile west of Dennison. The two cranes were foraging in a small wet pond beside the road, south side, at the edge of a farm field. Though we were close enough that not even binoculars were necessary, the birds were relatively unperturbed by our activities. We did stay on the roadside, however, keeping together by our scopes and using the car as a buffer otherwise. We had the opportunity to view the various bands and transmitting equipment on the birds' legs and will report what we've found. (Our friend has photos, but we don't know that the numbers are readable.)
Following his departure, we continued to observe the birds until dark. Many local residents stopped by out of curiosity, and were delighted to learn more about the visitors. Besides foraging in the field, the cranes did some foot-stirring of the water surface, and quite a bit of preening. They also climbed on two very large mounds of plant material in the water, rooting around in them somewhat, and seemed to run some of the long cattails through their beaks. Perhaps the most exciting thing to see was the "dance" display, the two birds jumping up into the air, first alternating and then in unison, sometimes side-by-side, and sometimes face-to-face. When we left they, and some shorebirds, were still feeding, but they seemed to have settled in for the night. We're hopeful they'll remain at least awhile, now that we've experienced the Rapture, so to speak. Linda Whyte Location (courtesy of our friend): N44.40681 X W093.06510; nearest intersection CR 42 and CR 31, and Lamb Ave.; nearest address 12515 Dennison Blvd S., Mn 55018 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
