On 13 December Phyllis and Sutton Deal found what has been identified as a Hooded Crane (Grus monacha) at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Meigs County, Tennessee. Also present for comparison was one Whooping Crane and many Sandhills. There are no accepted records of this species from the ABA Area. The Hooded Crane from near Carey Lake WMA, Idaho, 25 April 2010 is not on the Idaho or on the ABA Bird Checklists. Another (same as the Idaho bird?) was reported on 25 March 2011 near Grand Island, Nebraska, associating with thousands of Sandhill Cranes.
On its breeding grounds in southeast Russia and northern China, Hooded Cranes occupy isolated bogs and high elevation forest wetlands making it more secure than other rare endemic eastern Asian cranes. They spend the winter primarily in Japan with some in South Korea and central and eastern China. During the winter, 80% of the world population of ~10,000 birds is artificially fed at Izumi on the island of Kyushu, Japan. A captive breeding program in the world zoo community has 100+ individuals but there have been no releases from this population into the wild (Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 3). The world population of Hooded Cranes is the highest it has been since the 1920s since the artificial feeding program begun in 1952. This species is held in high regard in both Japan and in South Korea were the bird was named as a National Monument in 1972!