COURTLAND

Birds of a feather can flock together, even if they are two different kinds.

John Bunch of Courtland earlier this week spotted a Sandhill Crane pecking about with a flock of Tundra Swans in a field.

The sighting of the Sandhill Crane is somewhat out of the ordinary, at least for this region.

“At first I thought it was a Blue Heron,” said Bunch. “On Wednesday I went and saw it with the swans.”

He took advantage of the visit and got his camera to look closer without scaring them off.

“I determined [later] it was a Sandhill Crane. It’s a notable bird, and usually seen in Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky. It’s not a bird seen around our area,” Bunch said after some research; he does not profess to be an authority, though. “I talked to somebody at a nature conservancy who said they saw a flock in Isle of Wight County and even Northern Piedmont in Virginia.”

“It seemed kind of lost to me,” he added.

On Friday, all the birds had either headed south or found another temporary resting place; hunters were seen in the area, Bunch said, and he figured their presence spooked the birds.