Operation Migration finally had good weather today, and all this year's cohort of Whooping Cranes got off the ground, but the inexperienced young birds didn't quite get with the program. One Ultralight led three birds to their first stop. The rest came down here and there at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Find out what's happening with them at Operation Migration's Field Journal. WATCH what's happening via the Crane Cam. Watching the flight via the cam this morning was splendid!
And please support Operation Migration. It's expensive teaching these young birds the ropes, but it's our only chance of establishing a second wild, migratory population. The Whooping Cranes that breed up in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and winter at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas lost birds this past year to horrible conditions at Aransas last winter which reduced the blue crab population they depend on. I don't even want to think what a devastating late hurricane or a bad drought could do to them. Remember, it's not good to put all one's eggs in one basket--especially when those eggs are the last birds of a badly endangered species.
