No
Go, Say Pilots. GO, Say Cranes!
(+0
Miles for 4 birds; +54.5 Miles for 16)
November 20, 2009: Migration Day 36
 |
Roost
Check. See today's questions! |
This
unbelievable day started as down-day #5 in LaSalle
County, Illinios when the pilots ruled "no go" with fog
at the departure site and high humidity (making breathing
difficult
for
the birds
when
they
are
working
hard). The
landowner
at the next location reported fog too.
The pilots also feared having to land out
somewhere
on the first day of gun season for deer hunting. These were all
good reasons to not try a flight. Later
they let the birds out for exercise and got the surprise of their
lives! Only
four birds (903, 906, 907 and 924) came back when called. The other
16 took off and never turned back! The birds then had a half-hour
headstart, but Richard took off, hoping to locate the 16 cranes
flying in thermally air. He was following them in his
trike
with
the tracking antenna, but had trouble catching up with them. Meanwhile,
racing along the ground were two tracking
vehicles. Flying with the top cover pilot in a faster Cessna was
Walt with more tracking
equipment. By the time the faster plane caught up with Richard and
the birds they were almost 60 miles south. Walt
spotted Richard at the same time he caught sight of the birds,
flying in
a perfect V-formation.
Walt wrote in the Field
Journal:
"Richard had actually passed the birds without knowing it and they were now following him at a distance. From their vantage point on the road below Brooke and Sharon spotted the birds at about the same time. "Between us, we led Richard to the birds and he was able to gather them up and get them on his wing. it took over an hour, but he led them another 20 miles west—into the wind—to our next stop in Livingston County. We circled over him and Brooke and Sharon followed below so the birds had a ground and air escort all the way. Bev, Chris and Geoff left camp and got to the new site about 20 minutes ahead of Richard. In full costume, they started setting up the pen. Bev was in the field and called them down at 3:15 pm. Richard had about a gallon and a half of fuel left in his tank. We have had a lot of exciting days over the past nine years of migrations but this is the first time that the birds decided to migrate without the ultralights."
 |
CraneCam is
LIVE each day from 6:30 to 10:00 a.m. and again from 3:30 to 4:30
in the afternoon, just before sunset. The TrikeCam is
LIVE during flights (but not today's unexpected flight).
|
|
© 1997 – 2019 Journey North. All rights reserved.