Day 5 Grounded by Winds (+0 Miles)
November 30, 2007: Migration Day 49

Fourth graders at Alexander Middle School in Wisconsin hung 17 paper cranes from their ceiling. The cranes will stay there until the Class of 2007 crane-kids reaches Florida. These kids made more than 1,000 other cranes raise money to help the cranes reach Florida. Meet them! >>

Fold your own origami cranes! >>

Same story again today in Washington County, Kentucky: calm on the ground, headwinds aloft. Joe calculated that today's wind speed would mean almost 3 hours of hard work for the birds to reach the stopover. With #733 safely back in the fold,"everybirdy's" restless to fly south!

Counting the World's Whoopers
The number of wild whoopers that have now arrived in Texas from Canada is 258. Four more cranes have been seen along the migration route. That brings the grand total in the natural (Western) flock to a record-setting 262! The final new count will be taken late in December. In the new Eastern flock, 24 young cranes are making their first migration south. That's almost twice the number of Whooping Cranes that existed in the world 60 years ago. A whopping thanks to all who are working so hard to bring this endangered species back from the brink of extinction!

In the Classroom

  • Today's Journal Question: (a) What did Joe need to know in order to calculate how long it would take the birds to fly to the next stopover? (b-for-bonus) Have you ever used a GPS? How does a GPS help the pilots? Hear Joe's answer. See our GPS lesson.>>
  • Migration History: Where were the cranes last year on the last day of November? >>

 


Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure presented in cooperation with the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).