Eastern Migratory Whooping Crane Population Reintroduction Update, International Crane Foundation

Here is another update from Eva Szyszkoski of the International Crane Foundation, written a few days ago.  The St. Marks birds have migrated, and as an update to this article, have already arrived at Necedah NWR in central Wisconsin; apparently they really missed Wisconsin!  Somehow the migration start was missed and the cranes migrated all the way on their own, although I'm not sure how such an event was missed!  Usually before cranes migrate, they display in a frenzy of pre-flight calls to eachother, before taking flight and circling together, calling to those who haven't felt the natural trigger on their own.  They then proceed to fly circles around their former land home, while testing the air and wind.  If they can find a thermal, they quickly start to rise.  Otherwise, they fly low and take their time deciding where to break into the upper air currents, while quickly moving in the appropriate direction.  So many times as a crane tracker, I can recall watching this, literally yelling in my truck to "Go go go!" or "Don't do it, my truck isn't packed yet!"  Other times you can almost see the cranes making active decisions in the air.  I recall in November 2007, watching DAR birds (that I had just raised all summer) 36-07, 37-07, and 46-07, flying around the north half of the refuge.  They were exploring outside the refuge boundaries for the first time, and I watched one of them break off and start flying north, while the other two almost hovered and were clearly calling for break-away crane to come back.  It did, and the trio joined back up before exploring for another half hour, then returning to the refuge.  Later that day they made a late-day migration start on their own.

Some of the locations of the missing St. Marks birds were revealed through the satellite transmitters that they carry on their legs, and a faithful ICF volunteer in Indiana, Dan Kaiser, provided a photo of the group still together.  The cranes at Chassahowitzka NWR are still waiting for the perfect migration conditions, and will likely migrate soon.  Eva will be tracking them all the way north, while Matt will be tracking the remaining two birds at St. Marks all the way north.

As always, Eva's update can be read at the International Crane Foundation website at Reintroduction Updates

Nearly There
By Eva Szyszkoski, International Crane Foundation

The eight 2009 juveniles that began migration on March 24th from the St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge near Tallahassee, Florida are within a day’s flight from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge!
Late on March 24th, Brooke Pennypacker (Operation Migration) contacted the tracking team to let us know that eight of the cranes he was caring for had been missing from the pen for over nine hours. While Brooke was away, a volunteer observed the birds starting their migration that morning with an impressive aerial display. With late notice, ICF tracker Matt Strausser was already a half day behind and therefore had no chance of catching up with them; they were on their own.

According to satellite readings from two of the birds, their first stop was Shelby County, Alabama, where they stayed until continuing migration on the 27th. They then moved nearly 400 miles north to Monroe County, Indiana, and we were able to get confirmation that all eight birds were still traveling together. Two days of short flights followed and, as of last night, they are in Fountain County, Indiana, and only a little over 300 miles from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, a one-day flight if the winds and conditions are favorable. This group is composed of cranes #’s 8-09, 10-09, 11-09, 14-09, 15-09, 18-09, 25-09, and 26-09.

Numbers 6-09 and 12-09 at the St. Mark’s NWR, the nine juveniles, plus three 2008 sub-adults at the Chassahowitzka NWR have yet to begin their journey north. The forecasts for Thursday and Friday look very favorable for migration, so they will likely leave on one of those two days.

Thank you to Dan Kaiser for letting us share his fabulous picture of the eight juveniles at their Monroe County stopover.