California Cranes

On the final day of our recent California visit Jim and Susan Stratton took me out to watch the Sandhill Cranes come in to roost near Lodi. It was an incredible evening, watching these beautiful birds flying over Mount Diablo. Another California birding highlight: this Ferruginous Hawk south of Sacramento was my 450th bird this year! My entire North American life list was only at 450 before 2009. I doubt I'll ever see such a high percentage of my life list in a single year again and I want to say a special thanks to Jim Stratton for chasing this bird down with us.