received this note last night:

Cranes are doing very well…one has already caught a crawfish on its own and we banded them Sat and so now everyone is banded and has a transmitter!



I'm going to the site tomorrow......for the grand announcement......it is indeed very exciting.
If you look at the state wildlife page, there is some information there

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/wildlife/whooping-cranes

I predict after tomorrow they will be posting photos and video of the NEW LOUISIANA FLOCK!!!! I will be amazed if it is not plastered all over the news tomorrow. so far, its not even been in our newspapers!!!!

a friend saw videos yesterday of the releases......which I've not seen yet.

Here are some more links to stories about whooping crane reintroduction ....

Whoop, Whoop, Hooray! Cranes Return to Louisiana | Defenders of ...
By Molly Edmonds
The endangered whooping crane made a huge step towards recovery this week, as biologists reintroduced ten captive-bred birds to the southwest marshes of Louisiana.
http://www.defendersblog.org/2011/02/wh ... louisiana/

ShreveportBossierFunGuide.com: Bringing Back the Whooping Crane, a ...
Find out when you can see Whopping Cranes in the wild. ... wildlife agencies to return the Whooping Crane to the southwest Louisiana coastal marshes. ...
http://www.shreveportbossierfunguide.co ... hp?id=4556

IVFConnections.com - Assisted Reproductive Technology Helping the ...
This program is being sponsored in part by Dow Chemical and the plan is to restore a non-migratory flock of whooping cranes to Louisiana for the first time ...
http://www.ivfconnections.com/forums/co ... ing-Cranes

Endangered Whooping Cranes Return to Louisiana | SierraActivist
This adolescent chick, L4-10, was hatched and raised at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and is one of 10 whooping cranes being released in ...
http://sierraactivist.org/2011/02/23/en ... louisiana/


Giant cranes roost again in Louisiana's White Lake | News ...
The reintroduction site at White Lake is in the same general area where the last flock of Louisiana whooping cranes was documented in the 1940s by ...
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/116712 ... wAll=y&c=y

Wonderful stories, jwnix - thanks so much for bringing them here.

It is quite amazing - and I can't imagine what it would be like to see them!

I've seen sandhill cranes - and been quite impressed at how big they really are - but these are bigger.

cranes are doing well.....

this was just put up on u-tube......first flights......a bit slow to load, and then its lovely to see them airborne....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nriJvFhvLfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLVCr9-ZFQw

This is a look at the area of the Gulf Oil Spill today

Nicely done....thanks for posting that here!!!

with the 1 year anniversary on the horizon, the media is about to inundate us with the good the bad and the ugly of it. Please, do be discerning and pay attention to who is producing whatever it is that you are watching/reading. It is appalling to me the one sided advertising that is on television, trying to convince the world that all is wonderful on the beaches.....comeondown!!!! and of course, one might quickly figure out WHICH large corporation is paying those hard working/deeply affected individuals to "tell their story".

Today is the 1st anniversary of the explosion of the oil rig in the gulf, which killed 11 men and flooded our coast with oil. Undoubtedly you will see/hear much reference to the event.

This will be broadcast on HBO tonight....check local listings for time in your area.....FABULOUS !! I went to the premiere monday and they have done a remarkable job of documentation. children as well as adults...... Its well told story of ONE pelican and its journey through the oil.....very well done!

http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/saving ... opsis.html

I'm not quite sure where to post this - so figured I'd start here as there has been some other discussion of Whooping Cranes. If there's a better place, please let me know and I'll happily move it.

Some wonderful news from Operation Migration:

"WE'RE GREAT-GRANDPARENTS!!!
Wild 1-06*, who in 2006 became the first wild migratory Whooping crane chick to be hatched in the U.S. in more than a century, has in turn produced offspring."

Link to the Field Journal with the rest of the story is http://www.operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html, then scroll down to the May 10, 2011, entry.

Liz Condie's post talks about the new chick's parents and grand-parents, and ends with:
"The little one will likely carry the moniker W1-11, but as the first chick of a third generation of reintroduced Whooping cranes in a population struggling with nesting issues, I think it should be more appropriately be known as "Hope."