Migration Highlights
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Fall 2007
Target date for departure
October 10, 2007
Actual date for departure
October 13, 2007
Number of birds at takeoff
17
Number of birds surviving fall migration
17
Date migration ends
January 28, 2008
Total days of fall migration
97

Number of actual flight days (progress made)

24

Number of no-fly days (grounded or turned back)

73
Longest flight (in distance)
138 miles
Total miles flown
1262.1 miles
Days on Wintering Grounds (first departures 3/25)
57
Number of birds before spring migration
17

NOTES:

  • Due to weather delays, this was the longest migration to date in the project's 7-year history.

  • They were grounded by unflyable weather for as many as 10 days in a row (a NEW record, set in Cumberland County, Tennessee).
  • For the first time ever, the migration ran from one calendar year into the next; the team took a break (in December) to go home to visit families.
  • Crane #733 went missing on the Nov. 23 flight and wasn't found until 6 days later.
  • The cranes and planes turned back on their Dec. 17 attempt to cross the highest mountain ridge of the migration course.