Sandhill Crane
(Grus canadensis)
This sandhill crane was seen several times in New Bern, NC.
It was
first identified as a whooping crane but I was quite skeptical as whooping
cranes are quite rare. When we rescued this bird it was a fuel stop
banging into the front windowed doors seeing his reflection. It took
several Craven County Sheriff deputies and the Director of WildARC to capture it
as it ran quite well. We kept it for several days and finally got some
information from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources people about where to
release it. Sandhill cranes breed from Siberia and Alaska east across
Arctic Canada to Hudson Bay and south to western Ontario with isolated
populations in the rocky Mountains, northern prairies and Great Lakes Region as
well as Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. They winter is California's Central
Valley, and across the southern states from Arizona to Florida. They are not
often seen in eastern North Carolina, migrating more west of here, occasionally
over the Smoky Mountains. Seeing him here was quite a surprise! 