Today is April 1st and, no kidding, next Saturday's Crane Count is going to be great. The long-range weather forecast hasn't changed. If next Saturday is anything like today, it will be gorgeous.
Half of our 52 Waukesha County sites will be counted this year, plus at least three persons counting outside sites at unique locations. I've been in contact with the Crane Foundation to address the website issue we've been having regarding entering coordinates for the unique locations. There's no problem with data entering for the "official" sites however.
We welcome this year several new people to the Crane Count Community. Waukesha has a lot of productive crane habitat. Hopefully they found a good site and won't be disappointed.
Many of the counters see one another but once a year. Several of us like to meet up after the count to compare stories and share photos. Everyone is welcome at Deb's Diner on Main Street, Dousman. The food is good, and they really appreciate the business. Just show up anytime after the count. We'll recognize you.
There are a lot of really great people willing to get up early to volunteer their time doing this. On rare occasion we neither see nor hear cranes, though I have yet to hear anyone complain that just watching the sun rise over field, marsh, river or lake was time wasted.
I'm looking forward to it. Hope you are too.
