Sunday evening a little before 7 pm, I looked out the window just in time to notice a formation of large birds, relatively low, heading towards my house. In those split seconds, you all know how it is that you just "know" what something is, because nothing about it is right to be anything else. I immediately knew they weren't geese, weren't the GBHerons that so often fly thru the neighborhood just before and during dusk. They were coming fast, low enough and close enough that it quickly was evident...so I grabbed my binocs while calling to my husband that some SANDHILL CRANES were flying over. Sure enough, that is what they were, nine of them, beautiful! On a SE heading, pretty much right over our house corner (located a bit more than a mile north of the Edmonds ferry dock). We dashed from the NW corner window to the front door and ran outside to watch them flying away. What a lovely ending to the day, which started with the Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting in our Rhododendron.
Dee Warnock
Edmonds, WA
beachdee at hotmail.com