Adams County, Wisconsin - After eluding its handlers for several hours, the wayward whooping crane that dropped out of yesterdays 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 todays 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 Surveys 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.
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
