No
Go. Rain, South Winds (+0 Miles)
December 13, 2009: Migration Day 59
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The
crane-kids are in the travel pen for down-day #2 in Hardin
County, Tennessee. |
Weather, weather, weather. Today it's giving rain and south winds to the migration team, which means the second day grounded since The Dec. 11 flight. Alabama waits, and so do we. Pilot Chris wrote: "We have arrived in beautiful Hardin County, Tennessee and it looks like we could be waiting for a couple more days for the right wind and weather conditions." They think it's a great place to be stuck, especially with a few days of warmer weather to get out and appreciate the local sights. (You might enjoy your own research to find out what's special about his area of Tennessee.)
Meanwhile,
how are their wild cousins in the Western flock doing? From the
wintering grounds on the Gulf Coast of Texas, biologist Tom
Stehn reports
230 birds at Aransas NWR and eight known to still be migrating.
Tom can can account for 238 Whooping cranes at this point. He
is expecting up to 22 juveniles based on August fledging surveys
done on the
nesting grounds by the Canadian Wildlife
Service." Tom projects a "break-even
year" with a population total of around
247 birds for this, the world's last remaining natural flock of migratory
Whooping cranes.
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CraneCam is
live each
day from about 6:30 to 10:00 a.m. and again from 3:30 to 4:30
in the afternoon. TrikeCam is
live during migration flights.
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In the Classroom
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