I remember one spring when two teams of biologists were following two separate cranes by radio transmitter. However, one of the birds then landed and stayed in Saskatchewan prairies for a week while the other crane apparently continued straight on to Wood Buffalo. I'll be continuing to watch the cranes here to learn when the last 10 birds finally leave for Canada. I know the Canadian biologist who studies cranes plans to be in Wood Buffalo Park on April 28th and will start searching for nests. I hope there is lots of water on the nesting grounds this year.
More chicks are able to survive when the marshes are full of water.
Please help me wish for a successful breeding year for the whoopers. Id' really like to see our flock of 133 birds grow back up to the record 146 birds that we had in the 1990- 1991 winter. The most favorable migration days were April 15th and 21st. Included in the sighting from Kansas was the first color- banded bird reported. The bird had a red band on each leg, which tells us it was banded as a chick in Canada in 1988.