Whooping Cranes to FL!

Earlier this week, five of the 10 young Whooping Cranes hatched in WI made it to their wintering home in the FL panhandle (St Mark's NWR). They followed ultralight planes. The other five birds will hopefully get to Crystal Springs (FL) soon. This is more good news - an aerial survey Dec 9 of the Wood Buffalo birds counted 223 adults and 45 juveniles. Follow Operation Migration for background and continuing stories of the Whooping Cranes.

Below I have posted a couple of pics from the March 09 trip tp Kearney, NE. We had heard there was one juvenile Whooping Crane in the area, with a flock of Sandhills. We did find him/her - the bird certainly stuck out with the white (and some orange, from the first year plumage) and a much larger size, among the Sandhills. It was odd to have this bird with the Sandhills - it should still have been with its parents, but seemed to do well.