Common/Sandhill Cranes, Cumberland County, 4 October:

This is the most recent information I have about the cranes. Please read the whole message!

Laurie,

Just wanted to let you know that Scott Henderson and I saw 5 Sandhills and the Common Crane on Wednesday. They flew over the intersection of Hamony and Cake Rd. at 9:45 am. We saw them split into two groups of three. One group headed South and the other (with the Common) went SouthWest.

Ellen Short

Thanks to everyone who has enjoyed and participated in the crane excitement! Now that it's calming down a little, and because the Common Crane, as an escape, will not be considered by the NJ records committee (and the Sandhill Cranes are also not reviewable), I suggest that further online followup of these birds be moved to the NJ-Bird-Chat discussion list. You can see and search its archives at:

http://list.audubon.org/archives/nj-bird-chat.html

Please also report to the New Jersey Audubon hotline reporting number, 908-766-5787. Archives of the NJ tapes can be found at several places:

http://listserv.arizona.edu/lsv/www/birdeast.html
http://www.virtualbirder.com:80/vbirder/realbirds/rbas/NJ.html
http://birdingonthe.net/birdmail.html

I will refer e-mail inquiries about the cranes to these sources. Thanks again!