Photo Journals!
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| Date: |
March 30th, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Joe Duff |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main Office |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Latest word on migration activity |
|
Notes: Number 309 has never returned to Wisconsin since the day she left the state following our aircraft back in 2003. On her first return migration she and eight of her flockmates were flushed from their roost by curious onlookers, and they took off into the darkness. That incident, and a strong wind from the west, pushed them to the east side of Lake Michigan - and there began her wanderings.
Her new traveling mate, 520, also has a break in her migration knowledge that occurred when she was crated over 60 miles between migration stops in Georgia this past fall. Sara Zimorski from ICF reported today that the Tracking Team received a satellite signal from 520 who is presumably still with 309 in Tennessee near our stopover at Hiawassee.
I imagine a heated discussion in 'Whooper-eese' took place between the two of them in the skies over Georgia , but the right bird seems to have won, and their combined instinct has carried them over their migration blind spot. It is too early to speculate, but so far they are at least headed in the right direction and we hope to see them both in Wisconsin this spring.
Sara reported that the remaining '05 chicks apparently split up the first night. 515 and 522 are together and are flying again today. 511 and 521 are together but the team hasn't determined if they are moving today or not. Both pairs were at different locations in Turner County , GA Wednesday night.
The other 14 chicks had been missing but are currently being tracked, and apparently are all still together in a group. They were likely also in Turner County - or very close by - but went undetected until they got up in the air this morning. |
| Date: |
March 30th, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Liz Condie |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main Office |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Wood Buffalo/Aransas Flock |
|
Notes: In Tom Stehn's aerial census of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and environs conducted on March 29th, he counted 172 adults and 23 chicks for a total of 195 Whooping cranes.
Tom said the previous day’s strong line of thunderstorms brought rain to the Texas Coast and Hill County , the first significant rain for some areas in 4 months. The tail end of this disturbance made for dark, overcast skies for his March 29th census, and the poor lighting conditions made it difficult to find all the cranes.
With 195 whooping cranes of the estimated 214 in the flock located, Tom surmised that 19 cranes were either overlooked due to the poor viewing conditions, or that they had migrated. The Lobstick and Pats Bay families, the 'H', 'T', and Spalding Point pairs, and 3 sub adults were not found despite extra searching. Traditionally, the Lobstick cranes are usually some of the first birds to migrate and they customarily reach Canada 's Wood Buffalo Park before most other cranes.
Tom estimates it is possible that up to 19 cranes have left on their spring migration. So far the only confirmed sightings of Whooping cranes on migration from this flock are two birds reported being on the Platte River in Nebraska .
At Aransas, marsh salinities were measured between 28 and 38 parts per thousand, equivalent in places to ocean water. Crab counts conducted March 27-28 located only 7 small crabs, a very low number compared to usual averages. This low number is correlated to the extreme drought in this part of Texas over the past 4 months, providing harder conditions for crabs to survive. All this translates into tough conditions at Aransas right now for the Whooping cranes, with few blue crabs to eat and high water salinity forcing them to fly inland to get fresh water to drink. |
| Date: |
March 29th, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Mark Nipper |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Georgia |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
On the road again.... |
|
Notes: As Joe reported yesterday, our birds are gone. Sometime on Monday, 309 and 520 snuck out, and despite facing a headwind, began their migration. They made it to the Georgia/Florida border. Yesterday the rest of the birds followed.
It was a crazy day of tracking for Chris Malachowski and me. With lots of sun and a gentle south wind, the birds had a perfect day for traveling. They went up the coast of Florida , turned up the Suwannee River and didn’t stop till after 6:00pm in Turner County , GA. This has become the regular flyway for our birds during both the spring and fall migration.
We picked up their flight signals around 10:20AM and went into action. They were moving fast for a good portion of the day, making it difficult to keep up at times. They did make it fairly easy for us for most the day however, by staying in one big group. Eighteen whoopers soaring their way up to Georgia must have been an amazing sight for anyone lucky enough to have spotted them.
We had no trouble at all until the birds all began to land close to roost time. 516's signal was getting weaker, so we pulled over to figure out what was going on. We were able to listen as all the birds began to land within just a couple miles of us. After a short celebration for having completed our first migration day so successfully, we quickly tried to get over to where they were. By the time we did get there though, all but 516 and 522 had flown off to some other roost location.
Chris and I then managed to get ourselves tangled up in the back roads of Georgia and we couldn't locate the larger group. As a last ditch effort we checked out the original place we thought they were landing and luckily heard a whisper of 516's signal. 516 and 522 decided they were fine where they were and they stayed put for the night. Hopefully 516 is continuing his journey right now and will be able to find his way north with his companion.
Now it is time for me to head back to Maryland to prepare for this year's chicks with the staff at PWRC. Please keep your fingers crossed for 516 everyone, and also for our new hatching season at Patuxent. |
| Date: |
March 28th, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Joe Duff |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main Office |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Northward Bound!!! |
|
Notes: At least twice a day, someone from the Winter Monitoring Team hooks up the trailer that carries the airboat and makes their way to the boat launch ramp on the Crystal River . They push the airboat into the water, park the truck and pull on their hip waders. They cruise five miles through pristine salt marsh and slip into an area restricted to all visitors except authorized personnel from the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge and the WCEP project. They tie up on the far side of the island and walk through the palm forest to climb the ladder into the observation tower that over looks the Whooping crane release pen. They cross their fingers and begin to count birds using binoculars and the radio receiver. This time of year the visits are more frequent because the whole team is on alert standby waiting for the day when the birds they have monitored all year will be gone.
309 is our wayward bird which was blown off course with several others in the spring of 2004. She spent her first summer of freedom in Michigan, and in her peregrinations has visited Ohio, New York, Vermont , South Carolina, and Ontario, Canada. This past fall she was collected in North Carolina and moved to Florida. She spent most of the winter at the Chassahowitzka pen in the company of our youngest generation, and recently became buddies with 520.
Mark Nipper reported that on Monday March 27th these two newly acquainted flock mates departed the Chass pen for parts unknown. 520 carries a satellite transmitter as well as a conventional radio tracking device. This is good, because neither of these birds have made a successful trip north. 520 was a good follower last year, and the only break in her knowledge of the migration route was when she and 10 other birds were crated and moved 64 miles from Terrell County to Cook County in Georgia .
The next few days will be interesting. I am sure an number of arguments will ensue between an older bird that has been lost for 3 years and an upstart that knows most of the way. Given that they are both female, maybe one or the other of them will ask for directions.
Migrating Whooping cranes can cover hundreds of miles on a good day and the Tracking Team must try to keep pace. They deal with fuel stops and traffic, and roads that don't take them where they need to go while following nothing more than a directional beep across half the country. This is a complicated race to the finish line in Wisconsin with one of the players at a ground-based disadvantage, and the other oblivious to the competition. The big problem is nobody says, 'one, two, three - GO!'
This morning, without fanfare or warning, the rest of our birds left the pen at Chassahowitzka and headed north. THE RACE IS ON!! |
| Date: |
March 27th, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Mark Nipper |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Florida |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
2005 Cohort Update |
|
Notes: It has been sometime since the last update. We have been scrambling to get ready for the impending spring migration. We get a little more prepared each day, not knowing whether the birds will leave or not. We wait out the mornings to see if the youngsters will decide to go, and then we go back out and check on them in the evening. If we were actually out at the pen when they decided to leave we would have little chance of tracking their movements. We are able to check on them by calling a cell phone that is hooked up to the receiver that picks up their radio signals.
The last five days or so have brought cold north winds that have postponed migration just enough for us to finish planning and packing. On Tuesday the winds will shift back around to the south according to the weather forecast. After that happens, it is just a matter of the birds getting up high enough and then making the big decision. 516 looks well enough, and has been up flying with the rest of the birds regularly. He is still of concern though. We will be watching him very closely and hoping that he can pull it off.
Saturday morning we went out to the pen to check on a couple of our birds that injured their bills slightly. To do this we were joined by Scott Terrell and Don Neiffer, two members of Disney's Wild Kingdom veterinary staff. 503 has developed a large scrape on the top of his bill over the nares. It looked pretty bad, but we were able to check him out and give him the OK without even having to pick him up. He was held still while the vets checked him out.
A big thank you to Disney, and to Scott and Don for joining our team! |
| Date: |
March 22nd, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Liz Condie |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main Office |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Spring Migration and ARRIVALS |
|
Notes: A report we received yesterday from the tracking team showed locations at the end of the past week as:
Florida - 15
Still in Florida are 105 and 204; 201 and 306; 402, 403, 412, 415, 416, 417, 419, and 420. 309 is still with the 2005 chicks at the Chassahowitzka pensite. DAR juveniles, male 532 and female 533, were associating with small numbers of non-migratory Sandhill cranes and remained in Osceola and Alachua Counties respectively.
South Carolina - 3
301 and 311 and 318
Location Undetermined - 1
307 has not been detected since December 2 in Alabama .
On Migration or in Wisconsin - 26
- 216 and 303 left Florida around the 6th of March and were last reported (March 13) as being in Tennessee .
- 213 and 218 were last observed on March 14 and are believed to have departed on migration.
- DAR females 527 and 528 remained in migrating Sandhill flocks in Indiana , during the week.
- 107, whose transmitter is nonfunctional, was last reported in Indiana on March 9. (A report on 11 March of a single whooping crane in a flock of 40-50 migrating sandhills in Cook County, Illinois , may or may not have been 107.)
- 211 and 217 departed Florida February 28.
- 310 departed South Carolina March 9.
- An unidentified pair of Whooping cranes was reported in Barthelomew County , Indiana , on 13 March.
Arrived!!!!
In a report from Necedah, ICF's Sara Zimorski advises that:
- 101 and 202 arrived March 18 and they are on their territory at Site 4
- 102 and 212 are at Site 1/East Rynearson Pool. (They are a potential new breeding pair and apparently arrived on March 18 or 19.)
- 203 and 317 are on their territory at Pools 9/19. They also arrived on either the 18th or 19th.
- 205 and 313 also made it to Wisconsin on March 17.208 was present on south Upper Rice Pool. He too apparently arrived on March 18 or 19.
- Potential new breeding pair 209 and 302 arrived in Munroe County March 18.
213 and 218 were tracked into the Necedah refuge on the 19th. They landed on their territory at Site 2 and 213’s transmitter was found to be nonfunctional.
- 316 was present just east of Necedah NWR. He arrived March 17 but no signal was detected for 312 and no visual sighting of the pair was made.
- 401, 407 and 408 arrived at Necedah on March 20. |
| Date: |
March
13th, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Liz Condie |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations.
|
| Location: |
Main
Office |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal.
|
| Activity: |
Endangered Species
Report |
|
Notes:
Alicia Craig, ABC's Director of the Bird
Conservation Alliance (and a member of
OM's Board of Directors) sent along their latest newsletter
to us. It talks about a new report published by American
Bird Conservancy (ABC), that shows that the Endangered
Species Act is saving
America's rarest birds. The report notes that of 43 birds listed
under the Act that breed in the continental
U.S.
, 44% have increased since listing, and a further 19% are
stable or have been stabilized by conservation measures. To
download the entire report, visit www.abcbirds.org/esa
American Bird Conservancy asks that
OM
and its other member organizations encourage their
respective members and supporters to call or write letters
to their state's Senators asking them to support strong
endangered species legislation and to oppose HR3824, passed
by the House of Representatives in 2005.
|
| Date: |
March
12th, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Mark Nipper |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations.
|
| Location: |
Florida |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal.
|
| Activity: |
2005 Cohort Report |
|
Notes:
It has been classic sunny
Florida
the last few days. Gentle southerly winds and a lot of sun
have made for good migrating weather. More of our adult
birds are on the move and the chicks continue to get more
anxious. They make pretty regular flights of increasing
time, distance, and altitude. 516 has made marked
improvement over the last month. He definitely has the
willingness to fly and stay with the group. It is usually
hard to spot him in the air now because he is right in with
the flock.
The easy weather has produced random water levels making
things a little tricky at the pen. The winds shift from
shift back and forth throughout the day, from east to south
to west; so we never know what to expect out there. Some
nights the birds are fine to go to roost on the main oyster
bar, and others it is way to high. When we got out there
Friday it was too high. The birds were nervous about it and
went for a flight. When the winds shifted, weakening from
southerly back to east/southeast, the water levels went down
and the birds settled in nicely.
(Mark again sent some photos which we will post asap.
Liz)
|
| Date: |
March
10th, 2006 |
Links |
| Reporter: |
Joe Duff |
Position Opening!
Supervisor of Field Operations.
|
| Location: |
Main
Office |
2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal.
|
| Activity: |
OM's Ivory-Billed
Search Ends |
|
Notes:
For an ultralight pilot, sitting on your hands while
the wind blows is frustrating. It's like coming home to find
you've been robbed; you're angry, you feel cheated, but
there is no one you can blame. If you can imagine what
it’s like living with four pilots during the migration
when we can only fly on 23 of the 60 days it takes us to get
to
Florida
, you have some idea of what went on in
Arkansas
. The team was on site for 18 days and managed to fly on
only 7. They accumulated a total of 20.5 hours in the air;
gathered almost 80 hours of video using the four helmet
mounted cameras, and flew many transects. They saw a variety
of birds including Pileated woodpeckers - but unfortunately,
no Ivory-billed woodpeckers.
Our assistance in the search for the elusive Ivory-billed
woodpecker was funded by a grant from the US Fish and
Wildlife Service. We were to be on site for three weeks,
divided between
Louisiana
and
Arkansas
. However, the weather looked so dismal the end of this past
week, we are cut the search short a few days and the crew
headed home.
There are a lot of people who have dedicated years to the
search for this reclusive bird, and although we are
disappointed, it would be unrealistic to think we could find
it in just 20 hours. The prime search season is when the
leaves are off the trees, so maybe we will have a chance
next year.
The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Recovery Team is made up of a
number of agencies including the US Fish and Wildlife
Service, the states of
Louisiana
and
Arkansas
, the Cornell Ornithology Lab, and others. We met and worked
with several of their dedicated members, and are happy we
had the opportunity to assist.
Our team is now on the road home to regroup just in time to
start preparations for the upcoming Whooping crane season.
Twelve of our older generations' birds have already begun
the northern migration, so it won’t be long before the
whole cycle starts again – (taking a big deep breath
here).
|
| Date: |
March
9th, 2006 |
| Reporter: |
Liz Condie |
Position Opening! Click here to view our opening for Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main
Office |
Click
to view 2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
White Bird Update to
Mar 4th & Spring Migration
Also
Mark Nipper's latest Report |
Whooper Happenings - click here to listen to Mark Chenoweth's latest audio podcast all about Whooping Cranes! |
Notes:
Locations at the end of the
week were:
22 Florida
4 Tennessee
209, 213,
218, 302
4 South Carolina
301, 311,
310, 318
3 Location
unknown 203,
317, 307
12 On
spring migration 102,
107, 205,
208, 211,
212, 217,
312, 313,
316
and DAR birds 527 and 528
Last reported migration locations:
102, 208,
212 Fulton County GA
107
Jackson County, IN (potentially now in WI)
205, 313
*see below note
211, 217
Vigo County, IN (*sighting was either 205/313 or 211/217)
312,
316
Not detected since departing FL March 1
DAR 527, 528
Jasper-Pulaski, IN
Mark's Report
Things have been quiet at the pen. Of course every time
I say that, things go very wrong that very night. The water
has been at the worse possible levels for the last few days;
not high enough to flood the whole island, but too high for
the birds to be comfortable on the oyster bar.
The birds want to roost in water, but for some reason they
really hate the oyster bar when the water gets high. It
doesn’t make a lot of sense because they can still stand
on the oyster shell comfortably, but they just don’t like
it. They will pace back and forth for a time and then try
flying off. When they get up in the air we turn on the loud
speaker and they usually come back. The birds are very
responsive to the brood call this year; probably more so
than birds of the previous years. This has made things
easier for us.
506, 516, 521, and 524 have yet to lose their chick voices.
At dusk one evening last week, a small airplane circled the
pen at low altitude for about 15 minutes, but otherwise no
unauthorized human activity was observed within the
restricted access area surrounding the pen.
(See the Photo Journal for Mark's latest pictures.)
|
| Date: |
March
7th, 2006 |
| Reporter: |
Liz Condie |
Position Opening! Click here to view our opening for Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main
Office |
Click
to view 2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Wood Buffalo/Aransas
Update |
Whooper Happenings - click here to listen to Mark Chenoweth's latest audio podcast all about Whooping Cranes! |
Notes:
On his aerial census of the
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding areas on
March 1st, Tom Stehn estimated the number of Whooping cranes
present in the Aransas/Wood Buffalo flock at 189 adults and
26 young for a total of 215 birds. One adult and four
juveniles died at Aransas this winter, making the peak flock
size in 2006 an estimated 220 Whooping cranes.
While conditions were excellent
throughout the flight with sunny skies and 10-mile
visibility, approximately 4 adult pairs, 1 family, and 11
sub-adults were believed overlooked. Crane movements to
freshwater dugouts and prescribed burns made it more
difficult to account for all the birds.
Tom reports.....
The N. Pipeline Flats juvenile was not with its single
parent (female W-nil) and is believed dead. This juvenile
had been seen by itself on several occasions during the past
few weeks, a potential indication of illness, and making it
more vulnerable to possible predation. No carcass was found,
and I can always hope I simply overlooked the juvenile,
although extra searching was done in its territory at the
end of the flight. Female W-nil was by herself and has not
re-paired. For the second consecutive flight, the single
adult with a juvenile that arrived late in December and then
re-paired was not located. This family did not have a
defended territory, so if the juvenile has died, I am unable
to differentiate this unbanded pair from other duos. I am
worried that this may be another instance of juvenile
mortality this winter, although perhaps the family has left
the census area.
It is always frustrating not to find all of the cranes on a
flight, especially when census conditions are excellent. It
is always possible to fly directly over cranes in the
airplane’s blind spot and not see them, or cranes may move
and get overlooked. It is also possible that a small number
of cranes may have left the winter range for weeks at a time
before returning, especially sub-adult cranes that sometimes
move inland with Sandhill cranes. However, no one has
recently reported cranes away from Aransas. Although a pair
of Whooping cranes at Aransas was once believed to have
started the migration the first week in March, it will
typically be 3-4 more weeks before a few Whooping cranes
will start the migration. It is most likely that I simply
overlooked up to 22 cranes on today’s flight.
The sub-adult whooping crane that wintered with Sandhills 30
miles north of
Mexico
has not been seen since January 12. It is likely that this
white-plumaged whooping cranes has started the migration.
Quivira NWR in
Kansas
reported over 4,000 Sandhill cranes present yesterday, so
the Sandhill migration is definitely underway. About 50
Sandhill cranes were seen at Aransas on today’s flight,
down from the numbers seen 2 weeks ago.
Food resources continue to be considered sub-optimal for the
Whooping cranes. From habitat use observed on today’s
flight, I don’t believe the cranes are finding many crabs
to eat. Many cranes were in unvegetated lakes and tidal
flats, areas with limited vegetation for crabs to use as
cover. Late-December through mid-February is usually a
difficult time for the flock. Tides have risen more than a
foot since mid-February, however, considerable areas of the
marsh including cut-off ponds and extensive mudflats in one
area are dry from lack of rainfall. It is noteworthy that
the marshes in another area that are mostly connected with
the bays are showing normal water levels, a very different
scenario from the rest of the crane area.
Habitat use on today’s flight included 21 cranes in open
bays (compared to 47 on Feb. 15th when tides were more than
a foot lower), 3 on uplands formerly rooted up by feral
hogs, 5 standing on dirt roads, 19 on prescribed burns, and
13 near sources of fresh water. The drought in
Texas
is continuing with rainfall deficits resulting in high marsh
and bay salinities that force the cranes to seek out fresh
water to drink. The drought is rated as “severe” on the
coast and as “extreme” in the Texas Hill Country
including
San Antonio
. Thirteen cranes were utilizing areas burned Feb. 28 on
Matagorda
Island
, a management effort aimed to provide a supplemental food
source for the cranes during a difficult period of the
winter.
Due to a 9-day closure of state waters to commercial blue
crab trapping February 18-26, many active crab traps were
removed from interior marshes in the crane area. The
Texas
Parks
and Wildlife Department organizes the pickup of abandoned
traps annually and solicits help primarily from sportsmen.
Especially notable were about 100 traps no longer in the
southern end of the crane range on
San Jose
Island
. These traps may have been removed by the commercial
fisherman 1-2 days before the closed season, or else were
picked up by members of the general public or State during
the closure.
State wardens are believed to have picked up about 100
abandoned traps on the edge of the bay along
Matagorda
Island
. The crane area looks much better than it did two weeks ago
with fewer of these 'ghost' traps that continue to catch
fish and crabs for months even after they are abandoned.
Great progress has been made in the last 5 years picking up
thousands of abandoned traps. An estimated 200 abandoned
traps are still in the crane range, but many of these are
old, deteriorated, and imbedded in mud and no longer are
catching critters.
|
| Date: |
March
7th, 2006 |
| Reporter: |
Liz Condie |
Position Opening! Click here to view our opening for Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main
Office |
Click
to view 2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Latest from Patuxent |
Whooper Happenings - click here to listen to Mark Chenoweth's latest audio podcast all about Whooping Cranes! |
Notes:
Not only is Charlie Robinson helping to repair the storm
damage at Patuxent, he is drafting updates and providing us
with pictures. Below is 'Patuxent Charlie's' latest report.
Check the photo journal later today for pictures of the
staff and volunteers' activities that Charlie captured with
his camera.
Patuxent
Snow Storm Update
It has been three weeks since the damaging snowstorm. I am
very happy to report that much progress has been made.
By the end of the first two weeks all 110 pens were cleared
of netting, broken shade sheds, support cables; fences and
the support poles were repaired. This past week the
volunteer corps of various refuge staff and "craniacs"
have been working hard to re-cable and pull new netting into
the pens. From pen to pen the teams moved, ladders and
personnel ready to receive the nets and tie them to the
fence and tension them. A quick look around and they moved
to the next pen, and the next, until the last pen in the
series was done and they gathered to get their orders for
the next series. Days went by and much was accomplished.
Once
the teams left a series, the crane crew moved in to sweep
the pens with metal detectors and magnets, and they also
checked for anything a crane could pick up and ingest. At
the end of week the first of the breeding Whooping Cranes
were placed back into the Blue series. They tell us that the
cranes seem to be adjusting and are now getting frisky.
There are two adages that keep coming to mind: one, "many
hands make fast work"; two, is the college tavern song,
"100 bottles of beer on the wall....." But in this
case it was "100 pens in the field, fix one
up.....!"
Now about those elusive Sandhills. These birds were chick
raised and have been in pens and could not fly more then 8
ft. in the air, but given their freedom they quickly found
they could fly. As the time went by the score changed from
cranes 9, handlers 0, to 6 - 3, and then all but two were in
pens. The crane crew had their work cut out for them because
these birds flew from one field to another. Now all but one
is back penned. The one still on the loose found that she
can fly into the pen with her mate but takes jaunts out at
times.
We had the benefit of some good cooks in the facilities who
took mercy on us this week and fed us lunch. After being out
in the cold with wind blasts up to 25 mph, we truly
appreciated these hot meals which helped us to keep going
full tilt.
A tip of our hats to these ladies!
|
| Date: |
March
5th, 2006 |
| Reporter: |
Joe Duff |
Position Opening! Click here to view our opening for Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main
Office |
Click
to view 2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Searching...... |
Whooper Happenings - click here to listen to Mark Chenoweth's latest audio podcast all about Whooping Cranes! |
Notes: Ultralight
aircraft are like canoes. They are beautifully crafted, very
efficient and lots of fun. However, just like a canoe is not
made for high seas, our aircraft only operate in moderate
conditions. If your ambition is to use your ultralight for
recreation you learn to live with weather delays but if it
has a higher purpose, like the recovery or discovery of an
endangered species, the limited weather envelope becomes
frustrating. Our average migration takes over 60 days but we
only fly on about 23 of them. In our search for the elusive
Ivory-billed woodpecker we need good weather to fly low and
slow transacts over miles of remote lowland forest. We have
the team and the technology, we just need the time in the
air.
The OM crew of four pilots (recently joined by Richard Van
Heuvelen) is still at the White River National Wildlife
Refuge in
Arkansas
. They are getting good flights about every other day but
are anxious for a week of good weather and some serious time
aloft. The search terrain is so vast and inaccessible that
it makes ground surveying a slow process.
At our first search area on the
Pearl River
, I heard of a hunter who shot a deer just 200 yards into
the forest and spent all day getting it out. When you climb
high above the White River NWR you get an idea of how large
it is and begin to understand how a bird as reticent as an
Ivory-billed could existed undetected for so long. Slugging
along on the forest floor, dealing with deadfalls, mud, wild
pigs and cotton mouths would test the endurance of even
seasoned birders. To catch sight of a bird with such a
reclusive nature, maximum stealth would be required in an
environment not conducive to quiet travel.
Four aircraft flying low and slow over the forest canopy
when the leaves are off the trees, offers a birds eye view
of this isolated habitat and if the weather would cooperate
it would be the perfect observation platform.
We have Chris Gullikson is flying the lead position with the
other three aircraft off his wing, each spaced 200 yards
apart and an equal distance back. This formation is close
enough to cover 2000 foot transacts back and forth across
the search area but open enough to be safe for pilots
pre-occupied with looking down.
Each pilot has a digital video camera mounted on his helmet
and there is a high definition camera mounted on Chris's
aircraft pointing down and forward. All of these cameras
record directly to a hard drive with several hours of
capacity so there is no tape to concern ourselves with and
they are plugged into inverters on the aircraft electrical
systems so we don’t have to worry about batteries either.
The high definition camera is linked to our intercom system
so anything we say on the radio is records along with the
image.
We have navigational waypoints already established in a
pattern over the search area and as we approach one, Chris
identifies it over the radio and gives the other pilots a
countdown. As we pass over, we cover the lens of our cameras
with our hands for a moment. This acts as a synchronized
slate, just like in the movies so we can time code all of
our cameras to the same point. When this is downloaded to a
computer file along with the track history of the GPS units,
researchers will be able to view the master (high
definition) image and tell exactly where it was recorded.
They will be able to listen to our radio communication and
hear our in-flight observations so if we spot something of
interest (even a Pileated woodpecker) they were know where
is was seen.
It took several
hours to organize this system and choreograph our flights
but the results are impressive and hopefully fruitful.
Despite all of our technology and innovation its still up to
the weather.
|
| Date: |
March
5th, 2006 |
| Reporter: |
Mark Nipper |
Position Opening! Click here to view our opening for Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Florida |
Click
to view 2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
'05 Cohort Update
and
North Bound Birds!!! |
Whooper Happenings - click here to listen to Mark Chenoweth's latest audio podcast all about Whooping Cranes! |
Notes: Right
now it is pretty nice here in
Florida
. It has been sunny, in the 70-80's with easy south winds
for the last few days - and it is supposed to stay that way.
The birds love it too and are on the move. The chicks are
flying around more each day, and some of our adults are
already heading north. Two of the direct release chicks are
also on the move with the Sandhill flocks that they have
been with for the winter.
On Wednesday we again took water out to the island, where it
is kept in two large barrels on a raised platform. The water
is gravity fed to automatic livestock bubblers at the pen.
The barrels are just old pepper containers from
Greece
. In order to fill them, we bring two similar barrels from
the mainland out on the airboat and pump it over to the
blind. It can be quite an undertaking - an airboat isn’t
exactly a barge and it’s a little tricky with an extra 100
gallons of water onboard.
Thursday I went out to the island for another beautiful
morning and was able to get some good pictures of the birds
bouncing around in the pen. The chicks are getting whiter
and whiter every day, and their voices sound more and more
adult-like. 309 was cute, getting the chicks all riled up by
calling and jumping around. This is common for her, but it
usually just seems to be her wanting to get her turn at the
feeders. I think that in her mind, it is always her turn at
the feeders. She is a funny bird. She does a lot of preening
and makes sure she is always looking her best. Then she also
has a permanent splotch at the base of her neck on her chest
that looks like she is filthy.
This nice weather also means high water with the southern
winds and the birds still don’t like it when there is too
much water in their pen. We continue to have to lure/flush
the birds back in at night form time to time. This year it
has been relatively easy to get them back into the pen after
they have been out. Thursday evening I stood in the pen with
the loud speaker blaring to attract them. Reluctantly, they
will eventually land and roost in the pen, but it is obvious
that they would rather be somewhere else.
(Along with this report, Mark sent some great pictures
which I will process and post to the photo journal as
quickly as possible.
We've been getting lots of calls and emails about the white
birds being on the move north. In addition to 107 being
reported in Indiana, three birds, believed to be pair 102
and 208, and tag-along 212 were sighted in Georgia. Yesterday I
received an unconfirmed sighting of a single Whooping crane
in Wisconsin. Hopefully the tracking team will have more
definitive info for us in their weekly report. Liz)
|
| Date: |
March
2nd, 2006 |
| Reporter: |
Joe Duff & Chris
Gullikson |
Position Opening! Click here to view our opening for Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main
Office & Arkansas |
Click
to view 2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Rediscovery and
Recovery |
Whooper Happenings - click here to listen to Mark Chenoweth's latest audio podcast all about Whooping Cranes! |
Notes: During
one of our extended weather delays on the 2005 migration we
had the pleasure of meeting with part of the Ivory-billed
Woodpecker Recovery Team (IBWRT). Representatives from
US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arkansas Fish and Game
Commission, and the Ornithology Lab at
Cornell
University
came to see our aircraft and meet the crew.
They discussed with us a plan to help survey large tracts of
almost inaccessible habitat where the elusive Ivory-billed
woodpecker is thought to still exist. It took some time to
get the details worked out, but in early February, the IBWRT
offered OM a contract to fly over the flooded forests of
Arkansas
, and with luck, flush Ivory-bills and photograph them in
flight.
In winter when the leaves are down,
OM's ultralights can fly safely at 35mph, just 50 feet over
the forest canopy. Flying GPS generated transects in a
staggered, three or four abreast formation, we can cover a
wide swath with each pass. The slow and low approach angle,
and relatively quiet operation would catch loafing or
foraging birds off guard and cause them to flush, allowing
an opportunity for our pilots to observe and record them
with digital imaging systems from helmet mounted cameras.
These same characteristics of low speed, low noise, and low
angle means any threat perceived by the birds passes
quickly, minimizing any stress caused by the intrusion and
reducing the danger of birds feeling forced out of their
territorial range. During flights at the Necedah NWR our
team often passes over various species of waterfowl causing
only short term disturbance. Many only look up, and those
that do fly, usually return to their perch quickly.
We are excited to have the opportunity to work with
Ivory-billed Woodpecker Recovery Team, and thrilled to be
able to offer any assistance we can to safeguard another
endangered species. Read Chris Gullikson's report below on
the progress of the search.
In Search Of…
It has been a long time since I have submitted an update
for
OM
's Field Journal. The 2005 migration was an incredible
experience for me, and a very refreshing change of pace from
the technological corporate world that has been my life for
the past several years. I met many wonderful people on this
adventure, and made friendships that will last a lifetime.
Last spring before Joe brought me in as the new pilot, he
warned me that this migration business is addictive. Well,
he was right, and I am greatly looking forward to returning
to Necedah in June to start preparations for the 2006 cohort
of Whooping cranes.
The idea of using ultralight trikes to search for the Ivory
Billed Woodpecker was first brought up by Bob Russell of the
US Fish and Wildlife Service during a visit to Necedah last
summer to watch flight training with WCEP Project Direction
Team co-chair, John Christian. The idea sounded intriguing,
but not very realistic given all the complications of
actually allowing us to do over-flights of a National
Wildlife Refuge. Fast forward to the present day, and here
we are at the White River National Wildlife Refuge in south
eastern
Arkansas
, one of the key search areas for the Ivory-billed
woodpecker.
This adventure began February 14th when I left
Wisconsin
for
Ontario
. We joined Joe and in convoy drove the two OM trucks to
Florida
to pick up the aircraft and travel trailer, which we had
strategically left behind after completion of the '05
migration. Richard, Brooke, and myself all have other jobs
when we are not working for
OM, and since Richard was not able to join us for a few
weeks, it was decided that we needed to recruit another
pilot. I called up Matt Ahrens, one of my local flying
buddies from southern WI, and to my surprise he was able to
get away for the month to join us on this venture. I knew
Matt would be a good fit. He is a skilled trike pilot, very
experienced in the film industry, easy going, and a great
cook.
After a long two days on the road we arrived in
Florida
and picked up our house trailer from the repair center in
Ocala, FL. Gene Liles of Liles Collision did a great job of
repairing the damage to our trailer and we are very thankful
for his generosity. We drove down to Chassahowitzka NWR to
pick up our aircraft trailer, and after a quick lunch with
the winter monitoring crew, we were back on the road. I
would have loved to have hung out for a day at Chass to see
the birds, but we had many miles ahead of us before reaching
our first destination at the Pearl River Wildlife Management
Area in
Louisiana
.
The Pearl River Wildlife Management Area in southeast LA is
home of the first recent credible sighting of the
Ivory-billed woodpecker. On April 1st 1999, David Kulivan
observed two Ivory-bills in the Pearl River WMA. This
sighting resulted in several searches of the area, and
rekindled the hope that this bird was not yet extinct.
On arrival at
Pearl River
we met with Eric Baka, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries
biologists, to go over all the protocols and logistics of
the search. This area is still recovering from Katrina and
it was difficult to find a place to operate. Most of the
local airports are still in disarray and many are being used
as FEMA camps. Farther north the damage was not quite as
devastating and the management of the
Picayune
Municipal
Airport
just over the state line in
Mississippi
generously allowed us set up camp and stage our aircraft
from there. We spent the next couple of days installing all
the equipment necessary to support our helmet mounted video
and stationary high definition cameras that we hoped would
capture this extremely elusive bird.
Richard had made up some aluminum
brackets to mount the cameras to our helmets, and despite
him never having seen the camera, they worked quite well -
Joe just had to do some minor tweaking to make them fit.
Jeff Huxmann (producer of Hope Takes Wing) volunteered his
time to document this search, and he was a great help in
getting all the video gear working properly. We are using
small video cameras with internal hard drives that allow us
to shoot up to 7 hours of continuous footage.
Our first day of flying over the refuge was encouraging.
Despite a few glitches which were quickly fixed, the cameras
were working fairly well. We were flushing Pileated
woodpeckers and capturing them on video. After a few flights
to test out the new equipment, we decided to do a late
afternoon flight in formation over the refuge. We flew along
some pre-determined transects laid out from east to west and
separated by 2000 feet. Flying in close formation can be
hazardous, so we had a pre-flight orientation and 'walked
out' our turns in formation on foot on the airport tarmac.
It was like a scene from Top Gun…
The eye of Hurricane Katrina tracked right up the
Pearl River
. Evidence of its destruction was everywhere you looked.
Homes had not been repaired, businesses remained closed,
and more than 50% of the trees were flattened. It was an eye
opening experience flying over this once beautiful forest,
but the openness of the canopy allowed us a much better view
of the land below us.
Flying at 50 feet above the trees over a forest with very
few landing options is a bit unnerving, but we have
confidence in our equipment and our excitement of possibly
seeing an Ivory-billed mitigated the fear of crashing into
the canopy. With 4four of us flying in formation, we were
covering a 2000 foot wide swath nearly 6 miles long. If the
bird flushed at our approach, we would see it. We saw
numerous animals including wild boar, deer, and many, many
birds, including a few species of woodpeckers. We were able
to fly 6 transects before sunset and felt comfortable with
our technique.
Unfortunately, as is often the case flying ultralights,
weather has kept us grounded for much of the week, and
finally the decision was made to move us up to the White
River National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas where the Cornell
Ornithology Lab was doing more intense searches for the
Ivory-billed. Packing up four ultralights and all of the
misc. gear required to live on the road is no small feat,
and it usually takes the best part of a day to get rolling.
On Thursday, Joe headed back to
Canada
to catch up on the ever growing pile of work that
accumulates on his desk when he is gone.
The White River NWR is located in southeast
Arkansas
. At 160,000 acres, it is one of the largest remaining
bottomland hardwood forests in the
Mississippi
drainage. Bob Russell has heard the Ivory-billed here, and
there have been various interesting sightings and audio
recordings in recent years.
We arrived Friday afternoon at the southwest corner of the
White River NW Refuge and were greeted by very enthusiastic
staff from the Cornell search team and the US Fish and
Wildlife Service. We were given a quick orientation of the
search protocols, and were graciously allowed use of the US
Army Corp of Engineers campground which has excellent
facilities.
It rained heavily Friday night and into Saturday morning,
but by mid-afternoon the skies began to clear so we were
able to setup our aircraft in preparation for the next
day's flight. We were hoping for no winds on Sunday
morning, but unfortunately were greeted with a steady breeze
out of the north. We knew it would be a rough ride, but the
enthusiasm on the faces of all the people who came out to
help us convinced us try a flight.
The short flight to the refuge was exciting. Moderate
mechanical turbulence tossed our trikes around in the air
and we got a good workout just trying to stay on course.
Once we were over the refuge the turbulence just got worse,
and it was too dangerous to try and get low enough to get
effective video. I was seeing several Pileated woodpeckers
flush at the approach of my trike, but we were WAY too busy
flying to try and get any video.
We quickly abandoned the flight, and I climbed up a thousand
feet to try and get off the roller coaster ride that I had
not anticipated. The view of the refuge was tremendous! A
vast forest stretched out before me reaching 10 miles to the
east and no end in sight to the north. How anybody could
possibly search this on foot completely baffles me.
We made our way back to our campground to land on the narrow
east/west roadway that serves as our runway. The wild
gyrations of our trikes as we made our way down through the
turbulence to the runway kept a captive audience, but we all
landed safely and were able to quickly break our wings down
for the day.
That evening we had a little better flying conditions and we
were able to fly 8 transects about 10 miles wide spaced at
1500 feet. We saw many Pileated woodpeckers as well as
several other woodpecker species. The Red Headed woodpecker
with its white trailing edge looks a bit like an
Ivory-billed at first glance, but it is much smaller. My
heart leapt into my throat the first time I saw one, but I
quickly realized it was just a Red Head.
We flew up until sunset with the last 4 transects getting
easier to fly as the turbulence subsided a bit. The air out
on the refuge is strange, there was a lot of lift, then sink
near the open rivers, and random just weird air currents out
over the forest. This made it difficult to fly as low as we
would have liked, but we were still getting effective video
and the birds were flushing at our approach.
We only flew 2 transects Monday morning. The winds were
picking up out of the south and as we were coming back
across the refuge on our second transect, we all decided
that being on the ground would be a much better option
considering how quickly the winds were strengthening. We
broke the wings down again, laying them securely down on the
ground so the wind couldn't get underneath and send them
flying away like a scrap piece of paper.
As I write this it is Wednesday afternoon and the winds have
grounded us since Monday morning. We have hopes that
Thursday and Friday we will have flying opportunities
between the expected light rain shower activity. The great
people from the Cornell search team and the US Fish and
Wildlife have been very understanding about our weather
issues, and have not pushed us in any way. It is nice to see
they are safety-oriented, and hopefully the weather will
break soon so we can get in some serious flying.
The plan is to fly the southern part of the White River
Refuge where some interesting sightings and audio recordings
have been made. We have made a rough estimate of 20 hours to
cover this section of the refuge. Time permitting, we will
then move up to the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge
where the infamous Dave Luneau IBWO video was shot in April
of 2004.
Stay tuned for further updates from The Big Woods. If we can
get Brooke out of the local Wal-mart, I will make sure he
also writes a long overdue update. Walt Sturgeon showed up
yesterday to help us with the various odds and ends that
always need to be worked on, and Richard Van Heuvelen will
be joining up with us on Friday, bringing us back to 4
pilots.
For much more information on the IBWO, please visit
Cornell's web site at: www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/
|
| Date: |
March 1st, 2006 |
| Reporter: |
Liz Condie |
Position Opening! Click here to view our opening for Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Main Office |
Click
to view 2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
White bird update week ended Feb 25th 2006 / Photos from Patuxent's damaged crane facility. |
Whooper Happenings - click here to listen to Mark Chenoweth's latest audio podcast all about Whooping Cranes! |
Notes: White bird locations during the week were as follows:
Florida – 31
Tennessee – 6 (213 / 218; 209 / 302; DAR 527 and 528) Low precision PTT readings for no. 527 indicate that these birds may have begun spring migration from Hiwassee on 26 February, presumably with migrating sandhills, and roosted that night in Kentucky.
South Carolina- 4; (318 moved from North to South Carolina.)
Migrating – 1 (107 was sighted with a large number of Sandhills in Indiana.)
Unknown – 3 (307 was not recorded during the week, and neither were 203 and 317 who left the Chass pensite on February 1 with pair 301 / 311 apparently headed for South Carolina.
Predation: New bobcat scat appeared on the boardwalk to the pen on February 19. A bobcat trap containing one live chicken was operated during the week. One raccoon was captured and taken by
airboat to be relocated.
Click here for some photos from Patuxent's damaged crane rearing facilities.
|
| Date: |
February
28th 2006 |
| Reporter: |
Mark Nipper |
Position Opening! Click here to view our opening for Supervisor of Field Operations. |
| Location: |
Florida |
Click
to view 2005's Migration, Post Migration, and Winter Photo Journal. |
| Activity: |
Update |
Whooper Happenings - click here to listen to Mark Chenoweth's latest audio podcast all about Whooping Cranes! |
|
Notes:
Here
I am back in the field after a quick trip up to
Wisconsin. After being away for a few days, (luckily being
able to discover where winter had gone) I was anxious to get
out to the pen to see the birds. Because no more satellite
transmitters were available when we did the original banding
in December, we had yet to put one on 508. Yesterday being a
nice cool, breezy day, we decided to take this job on.
First we singled out 508 and Marianne moved up next to her
and picked her up. The other costumes moved in to help make
sure all the body parts were properly stowed away and
nothing was caught in the costume. Once we were away from
the other birds, a hood was placed over the 508's head. This
is a common practice when handling animals as their usual
reaction is to calm down. In our case, this also allows us
to take off our hoods so we can actually see what we are
doing. Because it was very sunny we took the bird back to
the blind to put the new band on. The whole process went
very well and 508 looked fine afterward.
The rest of the birds are | |
