Yes, this picture does make the common crane seem much larger than the sandhills. But the typical measurements of the two species are quite similar.What a great day of birding, Steve! Well detailed documented as always, your work. The Common crane has moved about 8 miles or so east. I visited one time. The road is raised and the steep shoulder off the road is pretty narrow, and the cars are pretty tight zipping by the oddly heavily traveled area (the old nuclear plant road). Not ideal or peaceful. Still keeping pretty far away, have yet to see any shots of the bird within 100 yards, often 200-300+ yards.
Shot below sort of is misleading as to the size differential between the Common and the Sandhill gang.
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I did a brief search for evidence of crane hybrids. One review paper that was published in 1983 indicated that crane hybrids in the wild were fairly rare, but it has occurred in captivity and especially via artificial insemination (see table 27). But a more recent report indicates that multiple cases of hybridization between sandhill cranes and common cranes in the wild have been documented in the last 20 years. This may be the result of escapees of common crane from captivity in North America (paired with a rebound in the number of sandhill cranes in the U.S.).@Bajema From what I have read (am adding these shots of the Skagit bird off of eBird from a couple years back-not mine), this Skagit bird had much more striking and clear-cut plumage of an adult Common Crane. This year's "coastal" Common is just not far enough different from the looks of known hybrid individuals of a sandhill x common that have been seen in the US before.
A friend of mine had some video yesterday of the local Common and Sandhills hopping and dancing so these birds seem pretty cozy together where one could surmise that interbreeding is a distinct possibility, if not already within this season's coastal bird, but perhaps will be in the upcoming nesting season.
Scientists like @Cabezon will remind us that distinguishing questionable species by "looks" without genetic screening is not good conclusive scientific work, and likely why it has not been called the Real Deal.
Interesting to see how this one plays out for sure !
Skagit Common Crane
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I did a brief search for evidence of crane hybrids. One review paper that was published in 1983 indicated that crane hybrids in the wild were fairly rare, but it has occurred in captivity and especially via artificial insemination (see table 27). But a more recent report indicates that multiple cases of hybridization between sandhill cranes and common cranes in the wild have been documented in the last 20 years. This may be the result of escapees of common crane from captivity in North America (paired with a rebound in the number of sandhill cranes in the U.S.).
Steve