Common Crane – Life Bird – Bitter Lake NWR, NM, January 2014

On an upcoming business trip to west Texas I made sure I had some free time so I could take an afternoon off to do some local birding.  As the trip neared I started my research with a scan of the eBird ABA Rarities list and found numerous posts about Common Cranes in the area – 1 near Bitter Lake NWR, NM and likely 2 near Lubbock, TX.  The NM site was closer, but still a good 3+ hour drive from work.  That would be quite the round-trip drive, but if the bird was reasonably reliable, I figured I’d give it a try.  I contacted several birders I know in southeast NM (I’ve birded there a few times in the last couple years) to try to get more information about the bird.  They reported that the bird was somewhat reliable, but not a guarantee.  It was typically seen in the early morning and evening as it roosted with Sandhills at the refuge, and during the day foraging with other Cranes in some nearby agriculture fields.  So it seemed to be worth a try.

I then started to gather more details on the bird’s habits and preferred locations.  During the day it was being seen in ag fields generally centered around East Ground Plains Rd. which was a few miles to the southwest of the refuge.  But it was in different fields on different days.  I was told to just wander around the area and check all the Crane flocks.  And early evening it would come into a roost at Bitter Lake visible from a spot aptly named as the Sandhill Crane Overlook.  Since I would get into the area midday. I figured I would start at the ag fields, and if I didn’t see it there, would head to Bitter Lake in the late afternoon.  A couple days before the trip another post came across saying the water at Bitter Lake was frozen, and although the Cranes were still roosting at the refuge, they were in an accessible location.  That meant my only chances to find the bird would be at the ag fields. 

And finally my last bit of research was to gather information on possible NM statebirds in the area.  I was only 19 over the old ABA threshold, so there were several possible statebirds to look for as well.  But the Common Crane was the key target, so I would only go for other statebirds after I found the Crane – if I find it of course.

I got out of work a bit later than expected, but was still able to get to the area by 1 PM (taking advantage of a 1 hour time change).  I headed right to East Grand Plains Rd. and drove around the area quickly to get a lay of the land.  Unfortunately I didn’t see any Cranes at all.  Then I noticed a very large flock of Cranes flying up out of a field to the east, with many circling overhead.  A few started to land in a field west of School Street, so I drove there to check them out.  In the next 30 minutes Cranes continued to drop into the field right in front of me.  At first I was optimistic that I would soon find the bird.  But as more and more Sandhills came in without their larger Asian cousin, my optimism waned.  Finally I guessed there were 1,000 birds feeding in the field.  Then at 1:30 something spooked the flock and they all took off at once– quite a scene.  This group circled over the field for a while affording good views, but I still could not pick out the target bird.  Eventually they circled higher and higher and headed off to the Northeast roughly in the direction of Bitter Lake.

Over the next hour and a half I drove around the area but found no more Cranes in the fields.  I even started to widen my search, going a couple miles from the areas where the flocks had been reported, but to no avail.  And although there were almost always flocks overhead, none landed, and instead they were quite high and heading northeast.  The only bird of interest was a Merlin I found sitting in one of the fields.  So by 3:00 I was pretty well convinved that I would miss the Common Crane. 

Then on a whim, I wondered if it would be worthwhile to head to Bitter Lake and try there.  It certainly didn’t seem like spending any more time in the fields would fruitful.  So even though the recent advice was the Cranes were no longer visible at the refuge, I decided I might as well give it a try.  What did I have to lose? 

I got to the refuge at about 3:30 and headed for the headquarters to get some advice.  As I pulled in I noticed that all the water in the refuge was open – maybe there was some hope afterall.  I found a refuge employee still there, and he said that the Common Crane had indeed been seen on the refuge that morning.  He directed me to a spot where the Cranes were roosting roughly opposite the Sandhill Crane Overlook.  Although this spot would be looking west into the setting sun (instead of the sun being at my back at the Overlook), I took his suggestion and headed right there.

As soon as I opened my door I heard calling Cranes and quickly spotted the roosting flock – maybe 500 birds mostly centered on a vegetated island in the impoundment.  I scanned the flock several times but did not see the Common Crane.  However, lighting wasn’t the best, and I realized that I couldn’t see the birds on the other side of the island very well.  So once I was convinced that the bird wasn’t in view from this spot, I drove around to the other side of the impoundment to the Sandhill Crane Overlook to try it from that side.

Lighting was much better from the Overlook, so I decided to set up my scope and hopefully wait for the bird to fly in to the roost.  Earlier posts had said the bird arrived at 4:30 or later, so I had some time to wait.  No Cranes were coming in at the time, so I scanned the flock a couple times mostly to just pass the time.  The first scan came up empty.  As I scanned back through the group I spotted a bird that seemed to have a darker neck.  It only took a couple seconds to be sure - it was indeed the Common Crane!  It had been on the part of the island which was not visible from the other side of the impoundment, and was likely there when I arrived. 

I spent at least 30 minutes watching the bird as it walked along the water’s edge among the Sandhills.  Not only was the darker neck and head obvious, but it was noticeably larger than the Sandhills, had a much larger “bustle”, was paler on the back, and had a larger and paler bill.  The bird was pretty distant, but I got these cropped phonescoped photos –

I made sure to post the details of my sighting since the recent guidance had been inaccurate - not only were the Cranes once again roosting at the Sandhill Crane Overlook at Bitter Lake NWR, but the Common Crane was there a lot earlier than in previous days.  Good thing I didn’t give up on the bird when all the Cranes left the ag fields that afternoon.

I left the bird at 4:15 and thought about looking for some other new birds for my NM statelist – several had been reported recently at the refuge.  But it was getting late, and I still had a long ride ahead of me to get back to my hotel.  I made one brief stop back at the headquarters to see what might be at the feeders (an Eastern Towhee had been reported there earlier).  But the only birds at the feeder were a flock of at least a dozen Scaled Quail.  Interestingly I had only seen that species once before in NM and remember having to work very hard to find a single bird in the Albuquerque area last year.  So I left the state with just 1 new statebird – but it was a lifer.

Common Crane was #742 for my ABA list, and #720 for my Lower 48 list.  Plus it was #284 for NM – 20 over the old ABA reporting threshold.