Whooping Crane Update, December 20, 2008

After 62 days, the road-weary team from Operation Migration has taken a much deserved break to head home to be with family for the holidays. They will resume migration on December 30 from Franklin County, Alabama — the cranes’ current stopover location. Four members of the OM team will care for the birds over the holidays. 

Several more of the previous years’ cranes have completed their fall migration. Approximately ten of the whooping cranes currently at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee will likely spend the winter there. These birds have all wintered at Hiwassee in the past. The map below shows the locations of the 74 cranes in the eastern migratory population.