|
|
For 2011
SANDHILL
CRANES
COUNTED AT FRUITGROWERS RESERVOIR
THE EVENING OF:
April 6,
2011, Wednesday
400 to 500
What the Hell?!
Just when you get to accept there will be no more cranes, we get this! If this crane predicting were easy, any dummy could do it. Thank you Evey for going down tonight to take a look.
April ,
2011, Tuesday
0
Zero.
April 4,
2011, Monday
12 Cranes this evening
Morning Note - From
Nancy Marsh: She called down to Monte Vista to inquire about the
Sandhill status (not the Dunes) there. She was told that as
far as they were concerned the cranes have pretty much migrated out of
the San Luis Valley.
We'll keep watch for a few more days here at Fruitgrowers.
April ,
2011, Suday
75 +/- , or 100 to 125
The 75 number is mine at 7:15 pm.
The 100+ number reflects Evelyn
Horn's and Jim Wallace's count.
With this extremely windy day it's easy to miss cranes hunkered in tall
weeds or flying off.
(My apologies for not
getting this posted until Monday. - Jim Durr)
April 2,
2011, Saturday
175
April 1,
2011, Friday
600
Or so. We had 70 +/- come in at 7:15 pm. And I
saw my first Merganser of the season
March 31,
2011, Thursday
90
Will we have another big day? This has been a strange year for
cranes. At least there more Western Grebes around.
March 30,
2011, Wednesday
17
March 29,
2011, Tuesday
110
Sum of three different groups.
March 28, 2011,
Monday
32
March 27, 2011,
Sunday
140
Word on the causeway is these cranes may have been returnees
instead of new recruits.
March 26, 2011,
Saturday
1,400 -
based on the next morning. I bet some folks disagreed with
any count more that a few dozen. Many birds were in side
pastures out of view from North Road (the causeway) Still there
looked like fewer crames than I saw the evening of the 26th.
1,700 +/-
From 6:30 to 7:00 cranes were moving all over the place.
We all agree there are at least 1,400, but I got the impression
there likely are more. The morning count may settle it.
The morning's weather forecast doesn't mention wind but does call for
the possibility of rain. If you go to the reservoir prepare for
the possibility of a
late liftoff
March 25, 2011,
Friday
40?
Unsettled weather has produced unsettled cranes. Too windy to
burn ditches but not too windy to close the dump (at least when I went
there). Did the cranes leave or stay?
A check at 2:30 revealed about 180 - probably holdovers.
With that I felt somewhat relieved that we would have
a respectable showing for Crane Days activities tomorrow. Then
almost an hour later about 180 cranes were above my house, corkscrewing
for elevation, recruiting another 150 or more from only Cranes
know where, and then headed towards Grand Junction
Dejectedly I went out to the Reservoir around 6:15 to see what has
left. At first I thought the swamp was drained of cranes.
At the northeast end a few cars were parked with folks looking at
a handfull in the tall grass - eventually I detected 14. Diving
on east to turn around another 26 or so came in low and appeared to
land, but I didn't see where.
So all I can offer today is snapshots to represent a motion picture.
Don't forget to check
out tomorrow's doings at the Event Schedule page - local Bird
Maven Evelyn
Horn in the morning and ecologist Ken
Strom from Audubon Colorado in the afternoon.
March 24, 2011,
Thursday
230 cranes
Windy day. . . yesterday's birds?
Saw first Western Grebe, solitary. Certain migrating birds bring
a special joy. Courting / displaying W.Grebes are one of the
special moments of the migration season.
March 23, 2011,
Wednesday
300
That's Evelyn's number. When I was there earlier I only saw about
half that.
ADVERTISEMENT:
Don't forget our second Saturday of Crane Days. Our Morning
featured speaker is Evelyn Horn.
And we are very pleased to announce that Ken
Strom from Audubon Colorado will make the
afternoon presentation, titled Protecting Cranes at Important Bird Areas
Please see the details
on the Event Schedule page.
March 22, 2011,
Tuesday
65 Cranes
Jim W. saw 80 earlier. I wouldn't be surprised if some took
shelter from the wind.
March 21, 2011,
Monday
(550
counted the morning of March 22)
400 - 500
I'm sorry I didn't make an entry until 8:30 Tuesday morning.
I was not able to get to the reservoir last night
(the 21st). Below is an email that Jim Wallace sent
me yesterday. I think this pretty much sums up the day.
I made a short trip to the reservoir at 1:00 PM. There were a
few birds on the two roost areas and then while I was watching they
just started dropping in. I ended up with about 500 total. I suspect
they may have been birds returning rather than new birds. Only they
know.
I checked again at 5:00 PM and came up with about 400 birds hunkering
out the wind. There was spray from the waves hitting on the road that
was going clear across the pavement at times. Nasty.
March 20, 2011,
Sunday
1,500 to 1,700 Cranes
This is definitely the biggest flight so far this migration.
There were Sandhills all over the place! - Sure was
exciting with cranes flying every direction, but it made a precise
count nearly impossible.
March 19, 2011,
Saturday
As many as 600
When I was at the Reservoir from 6:50 to 7:15 I struggled to find 250
or so but I knew there had to be more because of the atypical
areas where the cranes are hanging out. Merry Cox, who seems to
know how to count, convinced me she saw at least 400 and described how
they were scattering in strange directions around 6:00 pm. Then I
later heard that Jim Wallace is sure there are about 600.
I am sorry I am so late providing this report. I attended the
Colorado Art Ranch reception and poetry and song presentation by
Rosemerry Trommer. One interesting note was that when I got home after
9:30pm I could hear cranes in the air from the direction of
Fruitgrowers Reservoir. I live about 1.5 due west of the
reservoir. I have no idea if the cranes I heard were new arrivals
or if they were part of the 600 that had already landed but were
stirred from their roosts for some reason.
March 18, 2011,
Friday
550 to 600
Maybe more. See what it looks like in the morning - our first
Crane Days Saturday!!! Then come by Surface Creek winery and
Gallery for the Colorado Art Ranch presentations. Go to our Event
Schdule for more details.
March 17, 2011,
Thursday
110
This again is Jim W.'s number. I got there very late and
under low light saw only 25 obvious cranes out in the open.
March 16, 2011,
Wednesday
1300 +/- 50
is the revised count based on a more accurate count by Jim
Wallace Thursday morning. I am not surprised given the difficulty
counting the evening of the 16th.
800 to 950
At the end of the day the cranes settled near the water's edge to
roost at three different locations and kept flying between the
different locations.
Regardless of the accuracy of the count number, there will
be plenty cranes for the morning's show.
March 15, 2011,
Tuesday
40
The earlier dozen were joined by 28 more after sunset. Beautiful
evening.
March 14, 2011,
Monday
400
(A couple of reliable sources confirmed that there were 700 cranes on
Thursday evening, so, for the record, I adjusted the report
below .)
March 13, 2011,
Sunday
6.
That's right, only 6. Years ago, Dave Galinat brought to my
attention that evenings of big arrivals of cranes are usually not
followed the next evening by another big number of Sandhills. And
that has frequently been the case.
March 12, 2011
1,000 (or more) -
I arrived at the reservoir after 6:00 pm (7:00 pm MDT) as a few late
arrivals dropped in. All the birds I saw were north of North road
on both sides of the cottonwood trees along the channel. Many
were obscured by vegetation and the rapid loss of daylight.
I'll see if someone else has a better tonight or fix it if
there's a better number tomorrow morning.
NOW it's starting to feel like Spring!
March 11, 2011
Welcome Back!
I have been away for a while, so the Crane Days details, the web site,
and this little page reporting crane sightings have been neglected.
- Some times some things go easier than others.
A quick trip to Fruitgrowers Reservoir at sunset revealed no cranes.
March 10 or 11 frequently is the lead date for first Sandhill
arrivals. There have been some cranes seen at the Reservoir in
the past ten days - these likely are some of the 200 +/- cranes
that wintered over along the Gunnison River downstream from Delta.
This seems to be typical behavior - the locals flying around to
different locations (perhaps it's some pre-migration exercise or
"anticipation"?)
But a couple of days ago over 300 high flying cranes were spotted over
California Mesa that appeared to the spotter that they were moving
out of the country.
So let the Cranes begin!
- Jim Durr
March 10, 2011
Thursday
700 Cranes
I found out about this arrival after I wrote the entry for the
11th. It seems the cranes had begun, which frequently is the case
and is again so this year.
PARKING:
PLEASE
find a place to park that is off the pavement and PLEASE do not set up
your tipods on the pavement! The Sheriff's
Department join
many of us with concern about safety from less than responsible
behavior
on the county road (drivers and
bird watchers) while crane watching is going on. Thanks.
|
OTHER BIRD SPECIES SIGHTED 2011
at,
or adjacent to, the RESERVOIR:
American
Coot
American
Bald Eagle
Great
Blue Heron
Mallard
Canada Goose
Pintail
Green-winged Teal
American Crow
American Wigeon
Gadwall
Western Meadowlark
Double-crested Cormorant
Lesser Scaup
Redhead
Swamp Sparrow
Cinnamon Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-winged Blackbird
Killdeer
Ring-necked Duck
Western Grebe
Snow Goose (1)
Northern Harrier
American Avocet
Common Merganser
Rough-legged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American White Pelican
A
good on-line bird ID guide:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search
|
|
|
|
|
Crane Sightings and Other Observations at Fruitgrowers
Reservoir and the Surrounding Area
