Contacts
Jennifer Rabuck, USFWS, 608/565-4412
Bob Manwell, Wisconsin DNR, 608/264-9248
Joan Guilfoyle, USFWS, 612/713-5311 (Cell
612/810-6797)
Adams County, Wisconsin - After eluding its
handlers for several hours, the wayward whooping crane that
dropped out of yesterday's human-led migration is back with its
traveling companions; safe and sound, if not a little rattled.
The crane, referred to as number four (4),
dropped out of formation approximately 18 minutes into the start
of a historic flight south of eight cranes and three ultralight
aircraft. The bird, banded and rigged with a radio transmitter,
managed to elude detection of biologists from the Necedah
National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and International Crane Foundation
(ICF) for the first couple of hours.
However, once its signal was picked up by
the trackers, it amazed them by spending the next few hours
soaring high into the skies over Adams and Juneau counties in
central Wisconsin. Then, according to Dan Sprague, crane
biologist with the migration team, confused and a little
frightened, it did what comes naturally and returned to an area
it was more familiar with.
"We tracked the bird to a spot just
west of the refuge," Sprague said. "It is likely it was
trying to locate the training site at Necedah (NWR) and was
probably too high and missed the mark."
Tracking a moving bird is a challenge even
under the best conditions, but add in the rolling hills and
valleys of central Wisconsin and it becomes a true adventure.
"When the bird dips below the tree
line or lands we can lose the signal," said Richard Urbanek,
crane biologist with the Necedah NWR. "With only a five mile
range on the transmitters, having a signal pop up and then
disappear or change direction constantly makes pinpointing a
location problematic."
Despite these challenges, the bird was
successfully captured late in the day and returned to the
migration cohort at the first migration stop in Adams County,
Wisconsin where it will soon get a second chance to migrate with
its peers.
Members of today's tracking team included
Urbanek, and Sarah Zimorski and Barry Hartup, from ICF.
The bird capture team included Zimorski and
Sprague, who works for the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent
Wildlife Research Center in Maryland.
The project to reintroduce a migratory
flock of whooping cranes into eastern North America is a
multi-partner effort of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership
made up of numerous international and national federal, state and
local agencies, non-profit organizations and individuals.
Daily updates are recorded at 612-713-5311.
Fresh photographs and migration stories are at www.bringbackthecranes.org and www.operationmigration.org
Departure Contacts:
Chuck Underwood, USFWS 904-910-6254
Jennifer Rabuck, USFWS, 608-565-4412
Joan Guilfoyle, USFWS, 612-810-6797
On the road cell phone: 612-868-9851
Recorded daily updates: 612-713-5311
-FWS-
U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service
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