This morning, 11-8-04, from about 9:45 am to 10:30 am, above my house, I had 640 Sandhill Cranes in eight groups, milling around to find the perfect height to set sail. There were other reports from around the area of seeing or hearing them. Mrs.Howard Groce saw at least 200 for a total of 840+. A beautiful Red-winged Hawk took advantage of the high straight wind from the north to sail directly into it, then stop completly still for a moment or two. This changed to wing beating then back to just floating in one spot. I watched this for about 15 minutes as the hawk moved from place to place in the sky to repeat the same show over and over. It seemed to be enjoying it as much as I was. The sky was so blue and clear--the sun was shining at an angle that complemented every color of the hawk. It doesn't get any better than this. Robbie Hassler Byrdstown,TN Pickett County =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================