Image: Tom Schultz

GUESS WHO? An alert birder spotted missing Whooping crane #2-11,who had made herself at home among a flock of sandhill cranes, on October 26, 2011, five days after she'd gone missing. The Operation Migration team was called to see if they could capture her. The flock flushed and flew away before they could get near #2-11. She flew off with the sandhill cranes, but those birds know where they are going. The silence from her transmitter proved that it's not working, so she cannot be tracked. The mystery is solved. Good luck, crane #2-11!!

Operation Migration asks: "If you do see a juvenile Whooping crane please call 608-542-0829 immediately. And please DO NOT approach it. The DAR program has just released eight other juvenile cranes and experts don’t want birds from either group disturbed."