 |
 |
October
24, 2004
Migration Day 15
Eleven Fly to LaSalle County, Illinois
 |
Brooke
& birds take off. |
 |
Joe
and Brooke head on course with only eight young cranes. Richard
van Heuvelen landed at the LaSalle County site about 50 minutes
before Joe and Brooke. Photos OM |
More progress! Eleven cranes made the flight in three groups. Richard arrived first with five; Joe next with four, and Brooke last with two. What about the other three? Here's what happened:
Crane Wrangling and Tracking
Brooke launched
with the cranes at 7:14. For the next 30 minutes
the ground team watched some crane wrangling. Brooke
zig-zagged north,
south,
east and west overhead. Finally, Richard managed
to convince five birds to follow him and disappeared into the
brightening sky. For the next 20 minutes Brooke and
Joe fought to keep the other birds with them. First Brooke had seven
and Joe
had
two. Then some of Brooke's birds broke and veered to join Joe.
Now Joe had four. Next, another of Brooke's birds broke off and landed
about 10 miles south
of
the departure site. Trackers (in costume) went into action.
Dan and Tatiana jumped in a vehicle to track one crane, while Mark and
Vicky used
another vehicle
to
track a
second stubborn crane.
By
the time Joe and Brooke finally managed to get their cranes in a row,
Richard had already landed in LaSalle County
with
his
original five. Meanwhie on the ground, Heather
could hear the radio talk. She heard Brooke radio to Richard
that he was still 31 miles out and had only
two birds.
Next, Joe radioed he had four
birds and was 25 miles from target. Wait! 5 + 2 + 4 =
11. Oops! 3 cranes were missing, not two! Heather
radioed Brooke--the only pilot that could still hear her. She asked
him to find out
from Richard and Joe which birds
they had.
Richard had 403, 406, 412, 416 and
417. Joe
couldn't identify his cranes because he hadn't landed yet.
Brooke had 408 and 405. Finally
Joe landed and confirmed he had 401, 402, 407 and 415. Can
you figure out which
three cranes had to be caught, crated, and driven to the LaSalle County
stopover site?
 |
 |
| One Year Ago (2003) |
This Fall |
| Map
the Migration |
|
-
With the addition of today's 62.4 miles, what's the total distance traveled in the 15 days?
- Why can't the pilots identify which birds are flying with them until they land?
- Did you identify which cranes were rounded up on the ground and crated to finish today's trip? As the team suspected, it was 419 and 420, the two youngest birds in the flock, and the usual trouble maker, #414. (This is a good note for your migration chart.) Flight Durations: 1:20 / 1:50 / 2:06
Journey North is pleased to feature this educational
adventure made possible by the
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).
Copyright
2003-2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form