Hi all:

I have little more information about my sighting last Friday that I would like to pass on. A friend forwarded my post to someone who works with and is an expert on Whooping Cranes, and he had a couple of things that he questioned/commented on. One was that it is difficult to identify birds from a car while driving. Because there was a lot of constuction on the highway, there were many stretches where the speed limits varied from 30 mph to 50 mph. I was in one of those zones when I saw the birds - can't remember the exact speed limit, though. The other was that strong contrasting lighting conditions can make colors appear different than they are. The sun was out, but there was a high haze that lasted all day, so contrast was not an issue. He thought that I might have mistaken sandhills for Whoopers in very bright sunlight. I have a photography background and am very aware of how contrast can affect perception, but it was not an issue in this case. The white was very obvious.

The other thing I want to mention is that I did not know what the birds were, so I did not have a a preconceived notion when I checked my field guides after returning to Seattle. And they were not White Pelicans, as several people suggested. The long trailing legs definitely rule that out.

Apparently Whooping Cranes have never been reported in Washington, but there is a possibility that they could have been blown a long way to the west when they were much further south. I believe that's what they were, but I sure wish I could prove it! Where's a photographer when you need one? :-)

Ruth Taylor
rutht at seanet.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Wilson Cady <gorgebirds at juno.com>
To: ubarry at qwest.net <ubarry at qwest.net>
Cc: rutht at seanet.com <rutht at seanet.com>; tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Sunday, April 24, 2011 9:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Cranes near Yakima Friday morning


Any possibility they were White Pelicans?

Wilson Cady
Skamania County, WA


---------- Original Message ----------
From: Barry Ulman <ubarry at qwest.net>
To: Ruth Taylor <rutht at seanet.com>
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Cranes near Yakima Friday morning
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 21:14:56 -0700

Ruth,

Your description sure sounds like Whooping Cranes. These birds should sure be checked out. If Yakima has an Audubon Chapter, you ought to report the birds there. Sounds real exciting!

Barry Ulman
Bellingham, WA.


On Apr 24, 2011, at 8:32 PM, Ruth Taylor wrote:

> Hi All:
>
> This past Friday morning, I was driving on I-82 south from Yakima on my way
> to a business appointment in Toppenish. At roughly 0930 I spotted three
> large white birds flying over the highway and circling close together as if
> to descend into the wetland area on one side of the highway.
> All were white with very long, narrow wings with prominent black primaries,
> had very long necks and very long trailing legs. I'm familiar with
> Sandhills, with both species of swans, with snow geese - the only thing that
> fits is Whooping Cranes. Is this possible???
> I've never seen them; while I read that a few have been released in Idaho,
> that's about all I know about these birds in the west. For all I know, there
> may be very small numbers of them that do migrate through Eastern
> Washington.
> I'd love to hear from anyone who could give me more information or that saw
> them.
>
> Ruth Taylor
> Seattle
> rutht at seanet.com
>
>
>
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> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
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