Hello All,


I am hoping someone anywhere in the upper Ohio Valley region had their eyes to the skies around 11:50 a.m.-12:00 or so today, the 14th. I was doing the Wheeling WV CBC, and had 45 of what I am 95% sure were Sandhill Cranes, flying the ridge to the south of Rt. 40/National Road in the Triadelphia/Elm Grove area. They looked like cranes, flew just like cranes, and I caught a distant sound that sounded like one, but wasn't distinctive enough. They were flying west/(slightly) southwest towards Elm Grove/the Ohio River. I would have caught up with the birds and had a little more time to look at them as they flew along, but by some luck a police officer noticed that I was (eek) doing 56 in a 40 zone and pulled me over. He got to see the last 3 fly over the ridge and I frantically tried to explain the situation to him. I couldn't drive away, and couldn't catch the birds again.


If ANYONE has any info on 45 or more cranes (around 25 other birds were in a nearby loose-V), OR if anyone had around that number of Tundra Swans in that region, please let me know, as I have to submit my CBC numbers, and while I am pretty sure they were cranes (gliding with short quick 'crane' flaps, wide non-pointy wings, didn't look white, gigantic), I am trying to validate this before considering submitting them. If anyone wants to post this to the WV birding Facebook pages, super, as I don't have Facebook.


Thanks!


Ryan Tomazin - Bridgeville, PA 15017 - [log in to unmask]

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