[BBC-MEMBERS] REUTERS British news service rporting TN rare Asian crane story
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bbc-members@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:08:58 -0500
Rare Asian bird takes "wrong turn," lands in Tennessee
By Tim Ghianni | Reuters - 23 hrs ago
a..
An Asian hooded crane is seen at the Hiwassee Refuge in Tennessee in an undated
handout .
NASHVILLE (Reuters) - A rare Asian hooded crane, normally seen only in
Southeast Asia, China and Japan, apparently "took a wrong turn" and has joined
sandhill cranes wintering at the Hiwassee Refuge in southeast Tennessee, bird
experts say, drawing flocks of curious birdwatchers along with it.
"It's a great thrill," said Melinda Welton, conservation chair for the
Tennessee Ornithological Society and a bird migration researcher. "People are
coming in from all over the country to see this bird."
Welton said local birdwatcher Charles Murray has been keeping a log of visitors
to the town of Birchwood, near the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency refuge.
"He has had more than 700 people come and visit from all over the country to
see this bird," she said. "People have come from 26 states and from two
countries, including Russia."
The bird has been seen every day since mid-December, when the sandhill cranes
arrived for their winter residency at the refuge.
Welton said this particular type of crane "nests in southern Russia and
northern China and winters in Japan."
The TWRA said in a release that more than 8,000 of the hooded cranes -
approximately 80 percent of the world's population of the species - winter on
the Japanese island of Kyushu.
Welton said it is unlikely that the bird escaped from captivity, since there
are no bands or other markings. Instead she said it's probably a happy freak
occurrence that brought it to Tennessee.
"There have been other records of birds that take a wrong turn," she said. "And
now that he's on the North American continent, it looks like he's associating
with his closest relatives."
In addition to the Asian crane and the flock of sandhills, whooping cranes are
wintering at the refuge.
"This is the highlight of the century for southeast Tennessee," said local
birder Tommie Rogers.
"Likely there have never been three different crane species visible in the wild
east of the Mississippi River before."
Bald eagles also are a common sight at the refuge that is about a 45-minute
drive north or Chattanooga.
(Editing by James B. Kelleher and Tim Gaynor)
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