Post by Woody Williams on Oct 31, 2005 14:42:37 GMT -5
2005 whooping crane expedition update
-Whooping crane expedition stuck in northwest Indiana
-Strange Hoosier Halloween sightings entertain crew
-----------------------------------------
Operation Migration's 2005 whooping crane migration flight has temporarily
stalled in remote Benton County, Indiana.
High winds over the flat farm county have kept the endangered bird flock and
ultralight aircraft grounded since the mission entered Indiana on Oct. 28.
Operation Migration uses ultralights to teach young endangered whooping
cranes traditional migration routes from northern Wisconsin to Florida.
"We can let them (whooping cranes) out for regular exercise with little fear
of disturbance, and even work at number 516's much-needed physical therapy,"
said expedition leader and pilot Joe Duff.
Duff also reports a bizarre Halloween flight intruder. "Even more scary,
during takeoff from Kankakee County, we had an unexpected intruder in our
flight. Luckily the cranes were unfazed by this bizarre moment. The intruder
then swerved to the west and disappeared," said Duff.
View intruder and Operation Migration Halloween photos at:
www.operationmigration.org/2005MigrationPhotos.htm
This year's flight is the fifth of similar flights designed to restore
migratory populations of the endangered birds. Past routes led the team
through approximately 14 Indiana counties with three overnight stops.
Researchers are working to restore flocks of whooping cranes that will spend
summers near Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin, and
migrate to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.
In the first five years of the program, approximately 60 birds have been
taught a migration route between Wisconsin and Florida. This is 4 times the
number of whoopers that existed in the early 1940s.
The birds have been returning to Wisconsin in the spring on their own.
Whooping cranes are the tallest birds in North America standing 5 feet tall
with a 7- to 8-foot wingspan. Whooping cranes mate for life and can live 25
years or more in the wild.
Like many birds, whooping cranes learn their migration route by following
their parents. But this knowledge is lost when the species is reduced and
there are no longer any wild birds using the flyway.
Until Operation Migration was asked by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
spearhead a reintroduction of the world's most endangered cranes, there was
no method of teaching migration to captive-reared whooping cranes released
into the wild.
Operation Migration works in partnership with nine private and government
agencies known collectively as the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership.
-Whooping crane expedition stuck in northwest Indiana
-Strange Hoosier Halloween sightings entertain crew
-----------------------------------------
Operation Migration's 2005 whooping crane migration flight has temporarily
stalled in remote Benton County, Indiana.
High winds over the flat farm county have kept the endangered bird flock and
ultralight aircraft grounded since the mission entered Indiana on Oct. 28.
Operation Migration uses ultralights to teach young endangered whooping
cranes traditional migration routes from northern Wisconsin to Florida.
"We can let them (whooping cranes) out for regular exercise with little fear
of disturbance, and even work at number 516's much-needed physical therapy,"
said expedition leader and pilot Joe Duff.
Duff also reports a bizarre Halloween flight intruder. "Even more scary,
during takeoff from Kankakee County, we had an unexpected intruder in our
flight. Luckily the cranes were unfazed by this bizarre moment. The intruder
then swerved to the west and disappeared," said Duff.
View intruder and Operation Migration Halloween photos at:
www.operationmigration.org/2005MigrationPhotos.htm
This year's flight is the fifth of similar flights designed to restore
migratory populations of the endangered birds. Past routes led the team
through approximately 14 Indiana counties with three overnight stops.
Researchers are working to restore flocks of whooping cranes that will spend
summers near Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin, and
migrate to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.
In the first five years of the program, approximately 60 birds have been
taught a migration route between Wisconsin and Florida. This is 4 times the
number of whoopers that existed in the early 1940s.
The birds have been returning to Wisconsin in the spring on their own.
Whooping cranes are the tallest birds in North America standing 5 feet tall
with a 7- to 8-foot wingspan. Whooping cranes mate for life and can live 25
years or more in the wild.
Like many birds, whooping cranes learn their migration route by following
their parents. But this knowledge is lost when the species is reduced and
there are no longer any wild birds using the flyway.
Until Operation Migration was asked by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
spearhead a reintroduction of the world's most endangered cranes, there was
no method of teaching migration to captive-reared whooping cranes released
into the wild.
Operation Migration works in partnership with nine private and government
agencies known collectively as the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership.
