Another
Take-off & Turn-back (+0 Miles)
October 22, 2010: Migration Day 13
Photo Operation Migration
The
pilots took off to calm conditions on the ground but met with
strong winds
aloft. It was SO windy that their speed was down to 19 miles per
hour! That's way too tiring for the birds. They called it an exercise
day and landed again. Even
with a healed-up wing, crane #2-10 showed little interest in following
the trike. Pilot Brooke had hoped
to work
with #2-10 today,
but that didn't work out. Still, it's been a week of great progress
for the birds and the team!
Wild Whoopers and Fall Migration
Where
are the older birds in the reintroduced Eastern Flock? Tracker
Eva reports: "The birds seem to be getting a little restless and
a lot
of the
adults are
using fields off the refuge now. There are still a lot of standing
corn fields though, so not all the birds have started to leave yet.
The family with W1-10 stayed off refuge for nearly two
weeks before they just recently returned."
And
what's the news about the only remaining natural flock
of migratory whoopers? They're on their way from Canada to Texas.
The field office in Grand Island, Nebraska has
not received any confirmed reports from SD, NE, KS or TX. Several
probable
reports have come from from ND, and a few unconfirmed reports from
ND, NE, MT and TX. On average, the arrival date of cranes at Aransas
occurs around 16 Oct., so the migration is progressing roughly
a week or so behind.
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