Class of 2003 Whooping Crane Completes First Unassisted Migration to Necedah NWR! June 4, 2007
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Whooper
Reintroduction Updates
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| #18-03 at Necedah NWR. Photo by Richard Urbanek. |
Current Trip:
Summer 2007: Monitoring the
Whooping Cranes
Entry June 4
Class of 2003 Whooping
Crane Completes First Unassisted Migration to Necedah NWR! June 4, 2007
Estimated size of the eastern migratory Whooping Crane population is 57
individuals (32 males and 25 females): 54 in Wisconsin, 1 in Michigan,
1 in New York, and 1 unknown (last record in Ohio).
Nesting:
Whooping Crane pair #3-03 and #17-03 renested and began incubating on
May 14. They are the only pair currently incubating.
Wisconsin:
Number
18-03 returned to the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, unassisted, for
the first time in four years! He arrived at the refuge on the afternoon
of May 27. He was observed that afternoon with Sandhill Cranes (photo).
Number 18-03 had last been reported on farmlands and small wetlands in
west-central Michigan on May 8. His return to the Necedah NWR was his
first ever successfully completed, unassisted, spring migration in four
years. He was apparently finally able to circumvent Lake Michigan. His
previous migrations had ended in Michigan on the eastern shore of the
lake. He had been retrieved from Michigan (along with #1-03) in spring
2005 and spent that summer at the Necedah NWR—-the other
summers he
spent in Michigan. Welcome back to Wisconsin #18-03!
Michigan:
DAR (Direct Autumn Release) Crane #33-05 remains in southwestern
Michigan.
New York:
Number 9-03 continues to roost and forage in wetlands and cornfields in
upstate New York.
Unknown:
Whooping
Crane #16-05 was observed in northeastern Ohio on May 12. He left the
area shortly after that observation, and no subsequent reports have
been received.
Update by Joan Garland, ICF Acting Director of
Education. Report provided by Richard Urbanek, USFWS; Stacey Kerley and
Nicole Frey, ICF.
This email is generated by the International Crane Foundation located
at E11376 Shady Lane Road, Baraboo, WI. 53913. Visit our website
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