That’s quite a view out the dining room window

Sandhill Cranes visited the Brocketts’ field in North Haven. A friend, Joe Gherlone, took this photo.

October 28, 2020 — Imagine Sally and Walter Brockett’s surprise when they looked out their dining room window in North Haven yesterday and saw five Sandhill Cranes.

They touched down in the Brockets’ fallow cornfield and hayfield around 9 a.m. Walter snapped a photo through his telescope, and Joe Gherlone, a friend who they alerted, went over to take more photos, including the one to the left.

Sandhill Cranes are rare but fairly regular visitors to Connecticut. They’re listed as “probable” breeders in the northwest part of the state — meaning that a male and female have been seen together in suitable habitat during nesting season.

(To see them in great numbers, go with EcoTravel to Nebraska, which I did a couple of years ago. It’s truly awesome).

Sandhill Cranes in Connecticut typically merit a mention in our Rare Bird Alert, if we think the general public has a good chance of seeing them. Of the birds in North Haven, Sally Brocket emailed this morning: “The site is not easily accessible as it is on a narrow country road with no shoulders. We see the birds from our dining room window looking out onto our cornfields and hay fields. We were able to take these photos. We have not seen the birds this AM.” — Tom Andersen