Today's Report Includes:

• Chick Chat: All Chicks Together!

• Timeline: Update Big Events

• Journaling: Keeping Safe

• Meet the Flock: Crane Quiz #4

• Booklet: "Life at Camp O.M."

• Deadline! Win a Classroom Visit

• Countdown to Migration: Posted Fridays

Hooray! All 17 birds are now at one pen site. The 8 oldest chicks can look through the fence and huff and puff all they want, without picking on the younger nine. The two youngest birds now can fly better and longer. On yesterday’s flight Brooke took off with the younger nine but soon he counted TEN. The extra was #706, who left Chris’s plane and joined up with Brooke's! Both pilots kept an eye out for wolves after several recent sightings on the refuge. And after the two groups trained, Brooke and Chris let all 17 chicks mingle together outside the pen. "Nobirdy" fought. Soon they’ll all be in one big group.

The DAR (Direct Autumn Release) chicks
now spend the days on their own, outside their pen. They fly several short circuits around the pen site and nearby marsh and prairie. All 10 usually stay together, and they get along well — amazing for a group of 10.

You can add "all chicks at one pen site" to your own timeline for this year’s chicks. The chicks are now as tall or taller than team member Megan when they lift their beaks up high . See other milestones and key events for this year's chicks:

Key Timeline Events: Hatch Year 2007 >>

Listen to the audio clip and think about clues in today's report to answer:

What dangers do the young cranes face from (1) predators and (2) other cranes?

The chicks are another week older and we have more chick tidbits from the pilots and trainers. Click on photos here for each chick’s story:

• Meet the Flock, Hatch Year 2007 >>

CRANE QUIZ #4
While you're on the chicks' biography pages, dig for answers to this week's Crane Quiz.

Meet the Flock! >>
Photo WCEP

What important lessons are the chicks learning in flight school at Camp O.M.? (O.M. stands for Operation Migration and the folks who lead these cranes south.) Do the chicks get report cards? Find answers in the fourth booklet of our pre-migration series of six. Each booklet comes in PDF format ready to print, fold, and enjoy. (Teacher Guide, too!)

• "Life at Camp O.M." (Printer-friendly, downloadable kids' booklet). pdf >>
• Web slide show version >>
  

Sign up for Operation Migration’s Change4Cranes kit (free) BEFORE SEPTEMBER 30 and you could be one of three winners in an October 1 drawing for an O.M. team member to visit your classroom!

• Operation Migration's Change4Cranes Kit
  

Order Form

Weekly Summaries are posted (by email) to registered participants on FRIDAYS: Sep 7, 14, 21, 28; Oct 5, 12, 19, 26; Nov. 2, 9, 16 . . . or until this year's newest Eastern flock chicks reach their winter home in Florida!

Pre-migration: Each Friday before migration, a brief e-mail notice gives current newsy tidbits and announces a downloadable booklet for building background knowledge.
During migration: When migration begins (October 10 or after), the Friday e-mails will summarize the DAILY Highlight Updates that were posted on the Web during the week. You'll want to go to the Web for the latest maps, facts, photos, and fun!

We'll be back with more news next Friday: October 5, 2007.