Ultralight-led Whooping Cranes Arrive in Florida!, December 13, 2005
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Whooper
Reintroduction Updates
Current Trip:
Fall 2005 Eastern Whooping
Crane Migration
Entry December 13
Ultralight-led Whooping
Cranes Arrive in Florida!, December 13, 2005
Nineteen endangered Whooping Cranes and their surrogate
parents—four
ultralight aircraft—reached Florida’s Gulf coast
today after a 61-day
trek of more than 1,100 miles through seven states.
At
9:30 a.m. Eastern, the cranes and ultralights arrived at their final
destination in Marion County, first flying over a crowd of more than
800 enthusiastic spectators gathered for the occasion at the Dunnellon
Municipal Airport.
These cranes are the fifth group to be guided
by ultralights to Florida from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in
central Wisconsin. With the conclusion of this year's ultralight-led
migration, there are now 64 Whooping Cranes in the wild in eastern
North America.
This year, the young cranes ended their first
migration at a different location than in previous years. Instead of
being “dropped off” by the ultralight pilots at the
Chassahowitzka
National Wildlife Refuge in Citrus County, the juvenile birds will
instead spend the next few weeks at an isolated location in Marion
County.
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) project
managers believe this change will prevent wild cranes from harassing
juveniles at the Chassahowitzka site, to which older birds tend to
return when they arrive in Florida.
Holding the new arrivals
off-site for a period of time might allow the older birds the
opportunity to visit the Chassahowitzka site, realize no food or fresh
water is available, and then naturally disperse inland. Once the older
birds clear the area the new arrivals could then be moved into the
site.
Staff from the Southwest Florida Water Management
District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prepared a 600-acre
site within the 8,200-acre Halpata Tastanaki Preserve in Marion County
as a holding pen location for the new Whooping Cranes.
With
assistance from Disney Animal Kingdom, the Jacksonville Zoo and other
volunteers, a two-acre open pen and a half-acre top-netted pen have
been constructed to provide a safe temporary home for the project
Whooping Cranes while they wait for their older relatives to clear
their winter home.
Update compiled by Joan Garland, ICF Education Outreach Coordinator.
Report provided by WCEP.
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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