This young Whooping Crane, #46-07 "Makida", was 1st seen on Hatchie NWR on Saturday, 11-24-07, by Jerry McKenna.

I arrived on Monday morning, 11-26-07, just before daylight, followed shortly thereafter by Jeff Wilson. The bird initially was perched out in the middle of the lake with some Egrets, but eventually flew right into the area adjacent to the visitor parking area here. This was much closer than I expected, or intended to get.

We were somewhat blocked from the bird by a large slatted area, enabling us to get some close shots before backing off to try and do some digiscoping. Light was terrible, and neither of us had much time, as we both had to get to work that morning.

Amazing bird, and only my 2nd time seeing one (the other being the traditional Aransas NWR)