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HAEHNLE SANCTUARY FALL CRANE COUNTS

Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary conducts a Crane Count at the sanctuary starting the first Monday after Labor Day and every Monday thereafter until the Sandhill Cranes depart for the winter.  The counts start around 3:30 PM.  (For 2007, the September counts will be on Tuesdays.) This page contains current and historic count data.

Crane counts and other sightings for this season (Fall 2007)

Peak Crane counts 1941 to 2006

Detail counts 1969 to 2004

The following are the counts for 2003 to present.

2003 Date  2003 Count  2004 Date  2004 Count  2005 Date  2005 Count  2006 Date  2006 Count  2007 Date  2007 Count 
8-Sep            216 5-Sep

149

4-Sep

4-Sep

81

15-Sep            271 20-Sep            369 12-Sep 103 11-Sep 311 11-Sep 171
22-Sep            319 27-Sep            474 19-Sep 248 18-Sep 325 18-Sep 259
29-Sep            910 26-Sep 644 25-Sep 544 25-Sep 235
6-Oct         1,094 4-Oct            880 3-Oct 719 2-Oct 956 2-Oct 431
13-Oct         2,110 11-Oct         1,547 10-Oct 363 9-Oct 1,564 8-Oct 1162
20-Oct         2,897 18-Oct         2,072 17-Oct 604 16-Oct 1,170 15-Oct 2071
28-Oct         2,756 25-Oct         2,952 24-Oct

386

23-Oct

1,087

22-Oct

2478

31-Oct 1,538 30-Oct 553 29-Oct 2219
3-Nov         2,975 1-Nov         2,570 7-Nov 1,136 6-Nov 454 5-Nov 2131
10-Nov         2,652 8-Nov         1,248 14-Nov 1,902 13-Nov 753 12-Nov 2065
17-Nov         3,071 15-Nov         2,236 21-Nov 2,310 20-Nov 197 19-Nov 3885
24-Nov         3,924 22-Nov         2,102 28-Nov 549 27-Nov 830 26-Nov 3
29-Nov      
1-Dec         1,209 6-Dec 5-Dec 0 4-Dec 0
8-Dec 0 13-Dec 11-Dec 0
       
     
     

Crane  counts and other sightings for this season (Fall 2007)

Monday, November 26, 2007
Crane count- 3
Other sightings:
35+ Black Ducks were the only waterfowl.

What a differance a week makes. I had 3 cranes fly by and Mud Lake Marsh is about 1/2 frozen. This will be the last report for the year. Have a good holiday season,.
   Gary Siegrist

Monday, November 19, 2007
Crane count- 2065
Other sightings:
Northern Shrike-1 Adult
Whooping Crane-1
Lots of water fowl!

Well with poor visibility and not arriving until 3:30 p.m. we had a near record count of 3885 Sandhill Cranes roosting in the sanctuary. If you are wondering what is the record, 3924 is the record and was in 2003 on Nov. 24th.
   Gary Siegrist

Monday, November 12, 2007
Crane count- 2065
Other sightings:
Trumpter Swan-2
Rough-legged Hawk-1
Am. Kestral-1
Wild Turkey in tree
Cedar Waxwing-50+

The visibility was very low at times. Large flock (600+) came in to Mud Lake Marsh between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. Whooping crane is still returning to roost. Last night he came from the northwest. Lots of waterfowl still using the sanctuary.
   Gary Siegrist

Monday, November 5, 2007
Crane count- 2131
Other sightings:
Northern Harrier-1 (im.)
Rusty Blackbird- 10
Coopers Hawk-1
Red-tailed Hawk-1
   Gary Siegrist

Monday, October29, 2007
Crane count- 2219
Other sightings:
Gadwall-6
American Wigeon-4
Mallard-100+
Black Duck-25+
American Coot-200+
Northern Pintail-10+
Ring-necked Duck-2
Blue and Green-wing Teal
Pied-billed Grebe-2
Northern Harrier-1 (im.)
Coopers Hawk-1
Rusty Blackbird-10+
White-throated Sparrow
Sunday night a Northern Shrike was sighted below the observation hill.

The Whooping Crane returned to roost at 6:15 DST.
   Gary Siegrist

Monday, October 22, 2007
Crane count- 2478
Other sightings:
RThe Whooping Crane continues to use the marsh as a roosting site. He returned to
Mud Lake Marsh at 6:10 p.m. DST. and is still flying into Haehnle from thenorth/northeast.
Large flights of Canada Geese and many kinds of waterfowl are using thesanctuary.
The Trumpter Swans were seen and a White-throated Sparrow was heard.
Two Northern Harriers (im) also using the marsh

A special thank's to Robyn Henise for being a good sport.
   Gary Siegrist

 

Monday, October 15, 2007
Crane count- 2071
Other sightings:
Rusty Blackbird-2+
Black Duck-15+
Northern Shoveler-3
Gadwall-2
Northern Pintail-4
Green-wing Teal-25+
American Coot-7
Wood Duck-10 
Northern Harrier-2 (im.)
Sharp-shinned Hawk-2
Red-tail Hawk-2
Trumpter Swan-2
Pied-billed Grebe-3
Ring-neck Duck-23 on Eagle Lake

Largest numbers coming into sanctuary to roost bewteen 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. The Whooping crane has been roosting every night at Haehnle, last night it arrived at 6:40 p.m. from the north. 
   Gary Siegrist

Monday, October 8, 2007
Crane count- 1162
Other sightings:
Green Wing Teal-50+
Mallard Duck-25+
Great Blue Heron-3
Black Duck-1
Gadwall-2
Chimney Swift-2
Wood Duck-50+
Gray Catbird-1
Eastern Towhee
Northern Harrier-1 (im.)
Trumpter Swan-2

We did have one other crane come in to visit us around 7:15 p.m. The Whooping crane flew in with a large group of cranes coming to use the sanctuary to roost. This is he second time a Whooping Crane has been recorded at Haehnle. 
   Gary Siegrist

Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Crane count- 431
Other sightings:
Trumpeter Swan(2)
Wood Duck(200+)
American Black Duck(1)
Double-crested Cormorant(2)
Great Egret(5)
Northern Harrier(1)
Peregrine Falcon(1)-adult bird flew right across in front of the lookoutbenches
Common Snipe(2)
White-throated Sparrow(1)

The crane count at Haehnle got rained out Monday night so Gary asked if Robyn and I would count tonight.
   Don & Robyn Henise

Tuesday, September 27, 2007
Crane count- 235
Other sightings:
Merlin-1 male
Sharp-shinned Hawk-2
Northern Harrier-1 (im.)
Coopers Hawk-1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo-1
Chimney Swift-1
Killdeer-4
Trumpeter Swan-2
Great Egret-10
Gadwalls-2
Wood Duck-25+
Grey Catbird-1

Lots of mosquitos, if you coome out to sanctuary bring spray. 
                   

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Crane count- 259
Other sightings:
Dunlin-6
Wood Duck-100+
Teal-25+
 Purple Finch-1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Great Egret-8
   Gary Siegrist

 

Whooping Crane
      Tuesday , September 18, at 7:10 a.m. we had our first ever record of a Whooping Crane at the sanctuary. After contacting ICF in Wisconsin our visitor is a male that was hatched in 2005. We have seen the crane 4 times, once on Monday and three times on Tuesday.
      Ron Hoffman was first to sight the crane on Monday around noon. The last couple of days we not seen the Whooping Crane after many tries to relocate. After talking with ICF they would like us to document all sighting. We are confident that the crane is still in area. If you see this bird please contact myself or Ron Hoffman. My home phone is 517-522-5990, cell is 517-937-1095. Ron Hoffman's home phone is 517-769-6891. Or send a e-mail.  
      The Whoopoing Crane was also seen on M52 just north of Chelsea, and on October 8 was seen landing in Haehnle Sanctuary with a group of Sandhill Cranes

 

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Crane count- 171
Other sightings:
Sharp-swhinned Hawk-2
Red-tail Hawk-1
Great Egret-10
Chimney Swift-10+
Tree Swallow-10+
Greater Yellowlegs-1
American Robin-25+
Cedar Waxwings-35+
Great Blue Heron-2
Turkey Vulture-20+
Great Horned Owl-calling

Crane count for this Tuesday was 171, with the largest coming into sanctuary between 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
   Gary Siegrist

Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Crane count- 81
Other sightings:
Great Egret-3
Trumpeter Swans-2
Eastern Kingbird-1
Wood Duck-4
Large flock of blackbirds
Flock of shorebirds.

The Sandhill crane count for this week was 81. The mosquito count, fifty million. Thank you Don Henise for being on the dinner menu for our little guys.
    Gary Siegrist

Peak Crane counts 1941 to 2006

Year Number
1941 8
1952 33
1959 66
1970 282
1971 429
1975 469
1980 1325
1985 1458
1990 1432
1995 3893
2000 2876
2001 4019
2002 3084
2003 3924
2004 2952
2005 2310
2006 1,564
 

 

 

 

Detail counts 1969 to 2004

Download and view Crane counts from 1969 to 2004