Dear Journey North,

Juveniles 803, 824, and 827 are still at the Chass pen! But the other four are on migration. The PTT on #818 indicated she was in Peoria County, IL March 31. Eva got to that location April 1 but only 3 birds were there because crane #819 has separated from the others. We hope he's okay. (He's our favorite.) The group continued migrating April 1 but the strong SW winds enabled them to get ahead of Eva. We expected them to get into Wisconsin the night of April 1. I don't have further news, but stay tuned!

The 7 St. Marks birds left together on Monday and March 31. The PTT on #813 indicated she was in Chambers County, AL. I think with all the rainy weather they probably didn't fly on April 1 given the forecast but we'll have to wait and see.

Forty-five and possibly 46 Whooping cranes were back in Wisconsin by the end of March! Thirty of those were on Necedah March 28 when I was there. Two were just south of the refuge and 2 others were just finishing migration to Necedah as I was headed back south. There are probably two more birds in WI, on the refuge, but their transmitters don't work and we don't know for sure that they're back since they haven't been seen. We're assuming they are back because their mates are back, detected by signals. Signal were heard for 312-03 (mate is 311) and for
and 408 (mate is 519).

Lots of pairs back but no nesting has been seen yet! Everyone is hope for chicks this summer. We'll be sure to bring you the news.

That's it for now!
Sara Zimorski, Aviculturalist, ICF

St. Marks NWR: All Cranes Headed North!
Juveniles 805, 812, 813, 826, 828, 829 and 830 left together on March 30! A PTT reading from #813 put them in Alabama on March 31. Is the whole group still together? Trackers think so, and are racing to find out.

March 30, 2009 Hear Bev describe departure of the "St. Marks 7" on their first journey north. >> Audio clip thanks to Mark Chenoweth of Whooper Happenings!