Common Crane

There had been sightings of a Common Crane last week over at Rogerstown Estuary and as far North as Drogheda, it was presumed to be the same bird as it was never in the two places at once.  The crane is a scarce visitor to Ireland with most records in the Autumn or Winter months.  The birds that do make it here are thought to be from the Northern and Central European populations.

I was due a trip over to Rogerstown, so with the Crane in mind I headed over Sunday morning.  I took up position in the South Hide where GF was on warden duty for the day and waited.  It wasn't too long of a wait to be honest, less than an hour and out on the main channel, almost in front of the North hide the Crane appeared literally out of nowhere.

It was most likely roosting in one of the smaller side channels that feed into the main one, because it most certainly didn't come in to land, I mean who could miss something that big!  Instead it just seemed to stroll out into view and just stood there, never moving more than a couple of feet.  I took some record shots, but the quality is poor as the bird was easily half a kilometer away from me the whole time.  I waited about another hour in the hope it would move closer to the South hide, it didn't so I took myself off to the Bull and set up for the impending high tide.