Another
Take-off and Turn-back (+0
Miles)
November 11, 2009: Migration Day 27
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Click
photo to hear Joe explain this morning's events.
Video
by
Heather Ray, Operation Migration
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For
the second time this week, the birds and planes launched and headed
for LaSalle
County only to turn back after flying 14 hard miles in headwinds.
The birds flew beautifully, but the morning was fraught with difficulties.
Hear details when you listen
to Joe's clip above. At 14 miles out, the headwinds and slowing
speed meant another 3.5 hours to their destination. Would the fuel
last? Would the birds last? They made the hard choice to turn back
for
Day #6
in Winnebago
County,
Illinois.
But you'll
take heart when you
find
the
answer
to today's
question, below.
See
the archived clips that are captured each day. (The CraneCam
is ready to film the 10,000 mile celebration when the birds reach
LaSalle County, but this will not happen today as hoped.)
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In
the Classroom
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(a) How
are they doing? Check this
page and fill in the
blank: If the birds fly the next leg any day up
to and
including
(date) _____
they will still be beating last year's migration timeline.
-
(b-for-bonus) So
far, 26 of the crane-kids' wild cousins
are already done migrating to
Texas! At their wintering grounds on Aransas National Wildlife
Refuge, biologist Tom Stehn says, "A record 71
different Whooping cranes
have been at Quivira NWR in central Kansas since
the first of November.
So the birds are really
stacked up with reports mostly coming from Kansas and Oklahoma
the past 3-4 days. I expect the count at Aransas
to rise dramatically in
the next 5-10 days since Whooping cranes can easily make it from
Kansas to Texas in a week if they decide
to move and a cold front provides the push to get
them going." How can a cold front
be helpful to birds migrating south? (HINT: What
direction do the winds blow and what are the
temperatures
like? For more help with this question, click here.)
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Journey
North is pleased to feature this educational adventure presented in
cooperation with the Whooping
Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).
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