Heart-breaking. On the bright side, the folks at Necedah have amassed
great knowledge. I know that are working hard at this very moment to
revive their efforts. http://www.savingcranes.org/ Rob D.
At 7:54 PM -0800 2/4/07, Martyn Stewart wrote:
>This is very sad news indeed..
>
>Central Florida storms kill flock of endangered whooping cranes
>
>
>BY JAMES A. CARLSON
>
>ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>MILWAUKEE -- All 18 endangered young whooping cranes that were led south
>from Wisconsin last fall as part of a project to create a second migratory
>flock of the birds were killed in storms in Florida, a spokesman said.
>
>The cranes were being kept in an enclosure at the Chassahowitzka National
>Wildlife Refuge near Crystal River, Fla., when violent storms moved in
>Thursday night, said Joe Duff, co-founder of Operation Migration, the
>organization coordinating the project.
>
>"The birds were checked in late afternoon the day before, and they were
>fine," he said Friday.
>
>The area of the enclosure was unreachable by workers at night, and all the
>birds were found dead, Duff said. He speculated that a strong storm surge
>drew the tide in and overwhelmed the birds. The official cause of the deat=
hs
>was not immediately known, but he said it may have been drowning.
>
>The thunderstorms and at least one tornado that hit central Florida caused
>widespread damage and killed at least 19 people.
>
>For the past six years, whooping cranes hatched in captivity have been
>raised at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin by
>workers who wear crane-like costumes to keep the birds wary of humans.
>
>Ultralight aircraft are used to teach new groups of young cranes the
>migration route to Florida. From then on, the birds migrate north in the
>spring and south in the fall on their own.
>
>Duff described the loss as an "unavoidable disaster" for the whooping cran=
es
>project that ironically followed a milestone.
>
>For the first time in six years, an entire group of young birds reared at
>the Necedah refuge had made it to the Florida refuge without the loss of a
>single crane.
>
>The project's previous losses all involved individual birds killed by
>predators or fatally injured in accidents.
>
>"It's a fluke. It's an unforeseen thing," Duff said. "So many birds and th=
ey
>were such good birds. It was our hardest migration and our most difficult
>one to fund."
>
>The various groups and agencies working on the project had seen the size o=
f
>the flock grow to 81 birds with the latest arrivals, but the loss of the
>young cranes drops the total back to 63, and there may have been additiona=
l
>losses.
>
>Duff said there was no way of knowing whether other whooping cranes that
>winter in the area had survived the storm.
>
>Operation Migration is part of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership.
>Partnership officials and Duff said the work would continue.
>
>Members of the whooping crane recovery team were meeting in Louisiana when
>the Florida storm occurred, going over the past year's progress and settin=
g
>goals for this year, when they learned what had happened, Duff said.
>
>After the initial shock, "it just reinforced the support and determination
>to get this done," he said.
>
>The whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, was near extinction
>in 1941, with only about 20 left.
>
>The other wild whooping crane flock in North America has about 200 birds a=
nd
>migrates from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migratory flock in
>Florida has about 60 birds.
>
>Martyn
>
>****************************************
>
>Martyn Stewart
>
>Bird and Animal Sounds Digitally Recorded at:
>
>http://www.naturesound.org
>
>Redmond. Washington. USA
>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
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>
--
Rob Danielson
Peck School of the Arts
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
http://www.uwm.edu/~type/audio-art-tech-gallery/
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