A record number of 12 whooping crane nests have been confirmed on or near the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.  Two of the nests recently failed, but 10 pairs of cranes continue to incubate on their nests.  An additional pair of two-year old cranes have built a nest and are tending to it.  There has never been a pair this young in this population to lay an egg and incubate—we’re not sure if they have an egg, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

The cranes from the Class of 2008 are all currently accounted for--#19-08, who had been missing for a couple of weeks, is now back in Wisconsin.  Only three 2008 whooping cranes haven’t returned to Wisconsin, and they are currently being tracked in Illinois.

Of the previous years’ cranes, only four had remained in Florida.  In the past two weeks they began their migration, and three of them are already at the Necedah NWR. 

Update by Joan Garland, ICF Education Outreach Coordinator/WCEP Communications & Outreach Team Co-chair.  Report provided by Sara Zimorski, ICF Aviculturist/WCEP Tracking & Winter Management Team Co-chair.