Sandhill Cranes in Leelanau County

[Joseph E. Faggan]

On July 29 Jerry Churchill and I saw a pair of
Sandhill Cranes, together with about 50 Crows, in a
large field on Howell Road in northern Leelanau
County.  Howell Road runs north from Road 629 3 miles
north of "downtown" Northport. The field is directly
across Howell from the Woolsey airport and apparently
has been set aside as a nature preserve.

The Francke et al book on the birds of the county
(dated 1994) gives only two occurrences for the Cranes
after June, namely 6/25/93 and 7/24/93, and states
that there are no fall occurrences for the species in
the county, so this may be a new late county date for
them.

Next day the Crows were still there but the Cranes
were not seen.

Joseph E. Faggan
Beverly Hills, Michigan
jfaggan at yahoo.com