Ohio Crane Count

The Sandhill Crane as listed as threatened in Ohio.  Sandhills can be quite secretive during their nesting season, and to better track Ohio’s breeding crane population, Ohio is expanding the Midwest Crane Count, a volunteer count, coordinated by the International Crane Foundation. The survey takes place for two hours on a designated Saturday morning in April. In 2021, Ohio conducted a pilot season in the counties of Geauga, Summit, Trumbull, Holmes, Wayne, and Wyandot counties. The effort documented 160 Sandhill Cranes in those 5 counties. The count expanded into the additional counties starting in 2022 (see list below).

The survey date this year will be Saturday, April 13, 2024 from 6:30-8:30 am (i.e., 15 minutes before sunrise).

Read an article on the crane count in Wild Ohio magazine, by Laura Kearns.
Ohio Division of Wildlife. To subscribe, go to wildohio.gov

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact a county coordinator, Tom Leiden, or Matthew Shumar (obcicoordinator@gmail.com). Time commitment is limited to your Saturday morning, the time it takes to scout your area, and a couple hours of virtual training. Birders of all abilities who can identify a sandhill crane can participate.  A vehicle is also required. Participation in pairs is preferred. 

Please see a list of Ohio county coordinators below.

For more information on sandhill crane identification and natural history, see:

https://savingcranes.org/species-field-guide/sandhill-crane/

https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/discover-and-learn/animals/birds/sandhill-crane

Video Tutorials

Additional Resources

eBird mobile checklist sharing tutorial – Geauga County Coordinator Matt Valencic put together this short illustrated tutorial explaining how to share each checklist with the International Crane Foundation – part of our data submission process.

eBird Essentials Course – Get up to speed on how the largest biological citizen-science program in the world can help you with your birding. The eBird community gathers more than 100 million bird sightings each year from people like you. Providing a powerful tool for motivated bird enthusiasts everywhere, eBird helps you find more birds and keep track of your sightings. Collectively, these sightings are now empowering a global scientific community and helping answer pressing conservation questions. Full of video tutorials, this free course will get you ready to confidently store and share your sightings with eBird.

eBird Breeding and Behavior Codes – For observations of Sandhill Cranes, we are requesting that volunteers use eBird’s Breeding and Behavior Codes whenever possible. This set of codes provides a standardized set of information about the species’ breeding behavior and give lend more support for the species nesting in that location. A complete list of codes and their definitions is available at the link above.

County Coordinators

*additional details coming soon*

CountyCoordinator (click name to email the coordinator)Additional Information
AshlandChristina Stump
AshtabulaMarc Hanneman
ColumbianaChuck McClaugherty
DelawareRich Bradley
ErieKatie Burnsworth
FranklinJen Moore
FultonTBD, contact Matthew Shumar at OBCI
GeaugaDan Best, Matt Valencic
HardinNancy Risner
HolmesRandy Carmel
KnoxCory Gratz
LakeMegan Hart
LickingChance Patznick
LoganTBD, contact Matthew Shumar at OBCI
LorainKatie Burnsworth
LucasJay Wright
MahoningJason Short
MarionJames Anderson
MedinaNatalie Dubiel
MorrowKim Picard
OttawaMark Shieldcastle
PickawayArista Hartzler, Meghan Ellis
PortageRebecca Rodhe, Holly Stoneberg
RichlandGary Cowell
SanduskyDave Wilkins
StarkTBD, contact Matthew Shumar at OBCI
SummitDwight Chasar
TuscarawasDan Kramer
TrumbullCarole Babyak
WayneDavid McConnell
WilliamsTBD, contact Laura Kearns
WyandotTBD, contact Laura Kearns

Survey block maps

Maps for each survey block are available below, organized by county. Click a county name to expand the page for a preview of the blocks within the county and a list of the target blocks within each county. The survey block system is the same as that used for the Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Ohio, and represents 1/6th of a U.S. Geological Survey 7.5-minute topographic map. Complete details on the Atlas block and survey design are available in the final book.

Ashland County

Interactive map:

Download the Ashland County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Columbiana County

Interactive map:

Download the Columbiana County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Delaware County

Interactive map:

Download the Delaware County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Erie County

Interactive map:

Download the Erie County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Franklin County

Interactive map:

Download the Franklin County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Fulton County

Interactive map:

Download the Fulton County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Geauga County

Interactive map:

Download the Geauga County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Hardin County

Interactive map:

Download the Hardin County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Holmes County

Interactive map:

Download the Holmes County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Knox County

Interactive map:

Download the Knox County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Lake County

Interactive map:

Download the Lake County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Licking County

Interactive map:

Download the Lake County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Logan County

Interactive map:

Download the Logan County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Lorain County

Interactive map:

Download the Logan County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Lucas County

Interactive map:

Download the Lucas County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Mahoning County

Interactive map:

Download the Marion County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Marion County

Interactive map:

Download the Marion County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Morrow County

Interactive map:

Download the Marion County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Ottawa County

Interactive map:

Download the Ottawa County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Pickaway County

Interactive map:

Download the Pickaway County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Portage County

Interactive map:

Download the Richlanda County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Richland County

Interactive map:

Download the Richlanda County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Sandusky County

Interactive map:

Download the Sandusky County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Stark County

Interactive map:

Download the Sandusky County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Summit County

Interactive map:

Download the Summit County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Trumbull County

Interactive map:

Download the Trumbull County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Wayne County

Interactive map:

Download the Wayne County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Williams County

Interactive map:

Download the Williams County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice

Wyandot County

Interactive map:

Download the Wyandot County KML HERE to use on Google Earth or the mobile app of your choice