Eastern Flock Chicks: Hatch Year 2015
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PR #14-15 (F) Left Necedah NWR on 10/3/15, presumably with sandhills, and wintered with sandhills at Wheeler NWR in Alabama (photo). As of April 1, 2016, female #14-15 associates with a pair of adult Whooping cranes in LaPorte County, Indiana, but unfortunately appears to be injured. She was reported March 28 with a bad limp but still able to fly at least short distance. In good news, she flew to Wisconsin and in June 2016 showed no sign of the injury. She was in Jefferson County, WI, loosely associating at times with PR #20-15, and later in the summer and early fall of 2016 still in Jefferson County, WI, along with sandhill cranes. She remained in Jefferson Co, WI throughout October and occasionally associated with PR #69-16, but did not leave on migration with the younger crane. She was in Dane County, WI in early November and moved to Jefferson County, WI after mid November. She wintered in Morgan County, Alabama (see photo) but began moving northward to Greene County, Indiana over the weekend of Feb. 18-19, 2017. She returned to Wisconsin and was in Juneau County in April 2017.

PR #20-15 (M) was tracked briefly in Monroe Co, but by early October 2015 was seen in Dubuque, IA. He was alone, very close to a heavily populated area. After it became clear he was not following sandhill cranes and did not seem to be moving from the area on his own, ICF staff captured him and released him near #14-15 in Spring Green, WI (full story here). The day after his re-release he disappeared from Spring Green. He was alone in St. Martin County, Louisiana in January 2016. As of April 1, 2016, he was still alone in Louisiana but starting to move north. He successfully returned to Jefferson County, Wisconsin, where he was at times loosely associating with #14-15 and then moved to Walworth County, WI the rest of the summer and past mid November. By December 4, 2016, he ended up in St. Martin Parish, LA, where he wintered last year, and remained through all of February. "Who knows why he decided that's where he wants to go" commented ICF's Hillary Thompson, "but he seems to like it." He left Saint Martin Parish, LA by 18 March 18, 2017 and returned to Wisconsin, where he is currently in Adams County.