A Chance to Add The Whooping Crane to Our Records!!! Yay

I am putting up Bill's emails for the 20th and the 22nd. Jacob Wessels, who was able to stay on after Bill had to leave one of these days, had Cranes and a Loon fly over close enough to use his camera lens to capture the event. But the exciting part was that amidst the Sandhills was a beautiful Whooping Crane as well. We know they fly into and out of Hiwassee Refuge and surrounding areas, North of the watch on a regular basis in Fall and Winter. But we have very few opportunities to record one for the hawkwatch. Now of course it isn't a hawk, but we often record other sightings if they are interesting or significant, or just a part of the watch experience. Jacob kindly sent us a few pics, so I want to thank him so much for these. They are proof that he did't just see a white egret or albino Sandhill, but in fact a Whooper, NOOOOO Doubt! Enjoy.------------------------------- On another note: Jimmy and I were cleaning up leaves at our home, which were about to overwhelm us, and at about 2 o'clock on the 21st, I noticed in the sky behind Jimmy that there was a kettle of Turkey Vultures. I don't know how many might have been passing above us before that, but after showing him, he looked up and just counted them, while I scanned the sky only to notice that far in the distant North, one after the other there were more dropping from the high cloud cover. In one hour, they appeared from all over the northern sky with winds shifting them in different migration paths with each new group or kettle. Many of them kettled just over our heads and allowed for them to gather up for a recount. The numbers went as follows:89, 7, 58, 7, 39, 15, 22, 4,and 8. 249 TVs in the hour. Now of course, these will not go into the Watch count for Soddy Mtn. Although, these might could have been seen from the watch because our home is in the valley South of the watch. However, it just goes to show, that you can not ever know where or when hawks will pass, and how impossible it is to cover every hour 100% of the time. What is more, these birds were dropping from very high above the clouds, and if they did not break through the clouds near the watch, then they could have passed that point above the clouds. Not having hawks to count within the radius and height that they can be seen from the watch, does not mean there are no birds of a species passing, or migrating. Many times they pass above the watch, or move down far east of the watch and cross to the west far south of the watch, and sometimes, they simply fly above the clouds. Now for Jacob's photos: