Whooping Crane Key Timeline Events Hatch Year 2010 Make your own Timeline as you follow their exciting journey! Jan. 15, 1011 Migration Complete for Chass Five: 1,285 miles Photo Geoff Tarbox, Operation Migration Photo Geoff Tarbox, Operation Migration Photo Joe Duff, Operation Migration Photo Operation Migration Jan. 14, 1011 Migration for the Chass Five starts again: Arrival Flyover Celebration Dec. 25 The banded St. Marks five are set free! Dec. 17 The migration stops out for weather delays, the holidays, and preparations at Chassahowitzka NWR Dec. 15 Migration Complete for St. Marks Five: 1,113.9 miles Nov. 27 Halfway mark passed! Oct. 25 11 DAR chicks (already banded) released near older, wild Whooping cranes on Necedah NWR Oct. 10 Migration 2010 is underway! Oct. 5 Target date for migration. July 27 Chicks #4-10 and #11-10 arrived at Necedah NWR on July 27 after a 1,000 mile road trip from Laurel, MD to join fellow chicks in the Class of 2010. July 20 Today 11 chicks for Direct Autumn Release (DAR) arrived from ICF, where the birds were hatched and raised by costumed biologists. The chicks will spend the remainder of the summer at the refuge, under the watchful eye and supervision of costumed staff from ICF and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They will be set free this fall to learn the migration route by following older cranes heading south. July 9 Cohort Two birds (#10-10, #15-10, #16-10, and #17-10) arrive in Wisconsin and will stay at the Canfield pen site until they are ready to be joined with Cohort One birds later. June 30 Cohort One birds (1-10, 2-10, 3-10, 5-10, 6-10, 8-10, 9-10) arrive in Wisconsin in individual crates aboard a private plane. (Chick #4-10, recovering from an infection, will come later.) May 1 Chicks for the Class of 2010 began hatching at Maryland's Patuxent WRC. Chicks start training with the trike (without its wing) when they are just a few days old. Try This! Journaling Question How do this year's events compare with the same events for last year's chicks in the new Eastern flock? For comparison, see: 2009 Timeline Events. A costumed pilot drives the trike around the outside of the circle pen with the little chick safely inside. "Robo-crane" drops mealworms to encourage the little chick to follow the plane as it drives around the fence in a circle. Photo H. Ray, WCEP   Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP). Facebook Pinterest Twitter © 1997 – 2019 Journey North. All rights reserved.