crane declared wild

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Hooded crane at Hiwassee in 2011. Photo by John Kuehnel.

Wild. Wild. Wild.  The crane was wild.

"After extensive research and consideration the Tennessee Bird Records Committee (TBRC) voted 5-1 that a captive origin of the Hooded Crane (seen at the Hiwassee Refuge in Meigs County TN from December 13, 2011 through January 2012) was unlikely and accepted the record as a wild bird which will be added to the Official List of Tennessee Birds," posted Kevin Calhoon, Secretary of the TBRC, today on TN-Bird. 

Calhoon added, "We decided it was more likely that this Hooded Crane from Eurasia somehow ended up with migratory Sandhill Cranes in North America and over time drifted east to Tennessee, than it being a escaped captive bird."

So now, in 2013, we can add the hooded crane to our official Tennessee Life Lists. 

Here's a link to my original post 28 December 2011: lost crane.

And one to Kevin Calhoon's today: crane WAS wild.

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