Thu, Mar 25, 2004
One Bird Confirmed Back in Wisconsin
The first whooping crane to return
to Wisconsin from Florida this year has been confirmed. The crane,
known as “6-01”, was confirmed amid 20 sandhill cranes
Sunday in Marquette County, Wisconsin by the International Crane
Foundation’s Field Ecology Project Coordinator, Anne Lacy.
This crane is one of five pioneering endangered birds from the
first year of an ongoing reintroduction effort that uses ultralight
aircraft to guide young cranes on their first southward
migration.
The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) is a consortium of
non-profit organizations and government agencies working together
to return a migratory population of whooping cranes to eastern
North America, which is a portion of its historic range.
The “Class of 2001” was the first group of whooping
cranes to be led south using ultralight aircraft along a new
eastern North America flyway. Project partner Operation Migration
Inc. led two more groups of cranes south in the fall of 2002 and
2003. The juvenile cranes are led on a 1,200-mile journey from
Wisconsin’s Necedah National Wildlife Refuge through
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, arriving at
Florida’s Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in late
fall. The ultralight aircraft is only used during the cranes’
first fall migration; they return to Wisconsin on their own in the
spring. Project biologists believe the 2003 cranes will do the
same.
There are currently 36 whooping cranes in this reintroduction
project. Prior to 2001, whooping cranes had not migrated over the
eastern portion of North America in more than a century.
Other cranes from the Class of 2001, as well as cranes from the
Class of 2002, have begun their spring migrations.
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