ML104583871

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

The crane had a “slate” gray body with dark patches in the drooping tertials and wing coverts (photo1). The primaries, secondaries, and rectrices seemed to be more dark brown rather than black (photo 2). Photo 2 has been slightly manipulated to enhance the color and contrast. The dark tail was extremely short and hidden from view except when in flight. The head was dark with a light/white stripe beginning behind the eye and extending through the auriculars and down the back of the neck and blending into gray at the lower hind neck (photo 3). The bill was entirely yellow. The iris of the eye was light yellow (photo 3). The bird was a ‘sub-adult’ based on the lack of a red midcrown red patch (photo 4). CBRC information. Kerry, Received. Nice photos. I saw the bird on Saturday morning. Assigned CBRC Record 2011-065. Thank you, Guy McCaskie Secretary CBRC guymcc@pacbell.net COMMON CRANE Grus grus (1, 1). One at Lake Earl, DN, 5–8 May 2011 (ADB†; KR†, AJ†, CCo†‡, CAM†, GMcC, DWN†, MMR†, LS†; 2011-065; photo published in N. Am. Birds 65:569) provided California’s first record and the first for the west coast south of Alaska (Figure 5). Retained juvenal secondaries, along with pre-definitive features of the head and bill, suggested this bird was in its second or possibly third spring (P. Pyle pers. comm., 2013). This record engendered considerable discussion of the bird’s likely provenance. Most North American records considered to be of naturally occurring birds are from the middle of the continent (e.g., Nebraska, Kansas, and New Mexico) in March and early April with Lesser Sandhill Cranes (G. canadensis canadensis) that breed in Alaska and northeastern Russia. Presumably, Common Cranes occasionally take up with these Sandhills and remain with them through the winter and migration. There are also several records of Common Cranes stopping during migration near Fairbanks, Alaska, in May (also with Lesser Sandhill Cranes). In early May, when the Lake Earl bird appeared, any naturally occurring Common Crane that had wintered in North America should already be in Alaska or Russia. Thus the timing of this bird’s occurrence and the fact that it was alone (rather than with Sandhills) were cause for concern. Moreover, Common Cranes are held in captivity in North America, and a known escapee from New York, which eventually bred with a Sandhill in New Jersey, set a precedent for wandering by escaped Common Cranes. However, the Lake Earl bird showed no abnormal wear, was unbanded, and had no clipped toes or other signs that it had ever been held in captivity. Furthermore, because some Common Cranes do not breed until they are 4–6 years old (Makatsch 1970, Glutz von Blotzheim et al. 1973), an immature bird might stray from a “normal” pattern of migration, both temporally and geographically. On the basis of plumage pattern, a Common Crane that appeared in the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, from 3 July into August 2011 may well have been the same as that at Lake Earl, suggesting that it was a lost wanderer. Though the committee agreed the bird’s origin could not be known with certainty, after two rounds of voting only two members questioned its natural occurrence.

Technical information

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