An incredibly rare bird that shouldn't even be in the United States has appeared at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Meigs County.
Hooded cranes are normally only seen in Southeast Asia, China and Japan. The estimated population of the species is less than 10,000. But somehow a hooded crane found its way around the world and has been sighted at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.
has recently managed to find its way to the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in
Meigs County. Contributed photo by Pete Morris, courtesy of birdquest-tours.com.
"It's almost an unbelievable sighting," Jen Davis, with the International Crane Foundation, said.
Davis just happened to be in the area tracking rare whooping cranes when she heard about the hooded crane sighting Tuesday afternoon. She saw the rare bird for herself Wednesday morning.
"I just couldn't believe it," Davis said.
UTC professor and bird expert David Aborn spent Wednesday afternoon at Hiwassee watching for the hooded crane. "I'm anxious to see it,” Aborn said by cell phone, ”but haven't yet."
The hooded crane breeds in south-central and southeastern Siberia. Breeding is also suspected in Mongolia. More than 80 percent of its population winters at Izumi, Japan. There are also wintering grounds in South Korea and China.
As to how the rare bird found its way here, Aborn isn’t sure.
"There is no telling,” he said. “It could be due to weather, or some young birds just lose their way. It could be the same bird that was sighted in Idaho last year."
He said there have been past sightings of a single hooded crane in other states as well, but it's impossible to know if they are sightings of the same bird, or other hooded cranes.
There has been a steady stream of bird watchers showing up at Hiwassee as word of the rare bird spreads.
"The numbers of people coming out here will grow steadily as the word keeps spreading," Aborn said.
Of course Hiwassee Refuge is the winter home to thousands of sandhill cranes, a U.S. species that is growing more common. There are also four rare whooping cranes at Hiwassee right now, all birds from whooping crane restoration efforts conducted in recent years.
"The hooded crane may have traveled here with other cranes but mostly the interactions I saw with other birds were aggressive or defensive," Davis said.
Aborn and Davis both say it's impossible to know how long the hooded crane might remain in the area, but there is no doubt avid birders will be flocking to the wildlife refuge in the coming days in hopes of catching a glimpse of the rare find.
