This is how the pen looks when the birds arrive. Upon landing, the pilots will lead the birds to the pen. They'll put out crane chow and water, which is stored inside the trailer. Finally, the crew will string another electric wire around the perimeter of the whole site. Then they go to the team's camp at our travel trailer-homes set up nearby.

Travel days could be difficult with only one pen. But we have two travel pens so we can set up the pen at the future pen site ahead of time. Here's how it works:

After the birds take off and fly far out of sight, the ground crew packs up the pen the birds just left. I drive the pen down in our smallest RV to meet the pilots and tracker at the new site, where they've already put the birds away and are waiting for the ground crew to arrive with camp. We refill the water tank and clean and sanitize the water buckets. Then we jump in our vehicles to set the old pen up at the next migration site. We prepare in advance and always have a safe place for the birds to spend the nights.