This Is So Encouraging

You probably heard in the news that the Eastern Flock Whooping Crane project lost seventeen of the eighteen cranes of the 2006 cohort of young cranes in a storm on February 2nd. Despite this setback, the cranes from earlier years are in the process of migrating back north, on their own, and the first wild-born chick in the new flock, Crane #W1-06, successfully followed her parents back to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, arriving on March 20th. The success of the project hinges on the cranes breeding and migrating on their own—so far, so good.

When they tried to establish a flock here in New Mexico by fostering whoopers in the nests of the sandhill crane who migrate between Bosque del Apache and Grey's Lake, Montana, in the end it failed. Those whooping cranes never bred. It's looking better for the eastern flock...