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Dana
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| Posted: Nov 09 2011 at 6:43am | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
MaryM wrote:
| Is there a chance of you guys seeing them as they get further south? They look like they do fly over your area. You will have to try to see them. |
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Yes - we hope too...it will just depend on their timing and whether we're here or not. They'll be flying just to the west of us, so it wouldn't be far to go see them. Their timing is so dependent on weather, and of course stragglers.
We are so enjoying following their story, getting to know them, and tracking them down the US to Florida. |
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We now live in Shelby County, Jenn. I'm crossing my fingers that their time here isn't going to correspond with our trip to Brazil over Thanksgiving. I love the movie and the whole idea. What an awesome project!
Maybe we will see you there if it works out for us both!!
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Dana
wife to Andre and mother to dd (06/07), ds (12/08), dd (7/10), and ds (6/12)
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Mackfam
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Mary,
That Far Side is great for a little morning cup-o-coffee humor!!!  LOVE IT!!! Ironically, this is how my kids feel when "our" ducks arrive. We have 3 male Mallards come every spring, to our teeny-tiny garden pond. It's hilarious. Of course, there are bigger ponds all around us...but they take a daily dip in our little one, too, as they make their rounds. And EVERY SPRING the kids strategize HOW they can convince the ducks NOT to leave us. And every fall they leave. And then come back the next spring. By the way, if anyone enjoys their ducks as much as we do, an absolutely FANTASTIC book on ducks is Louis Darling's Greenhead (about Mallard ducks).
Dana,
That would be fantastic if we saw you guys while we were out trying to spot our whooping cranes! We're still tracking them! They're in Illinois today and I don't think they're flying yet, which may mean another day of bad weather. I follow their updates on Twitter.
I'm enjoying all of Mary's resources and I have GOT to get over and link a few more books I found!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Angel
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| Posted: Nov 09 2011 at 7:50am | IP Logged
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Dana wrote:
We now live in Shelby County, Jenn. I'm crossing my fingers that their time here isn't going to correspond with our trip to Brazil over Thanksgiving. I love the movie and the whole idea. What an awesome project!
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I'm assuming this isn't the Shelby Co. near me... or I think I would probably know you! The closest they'll come to us is Hardin Co., TN and then the far east corner of MS... that's a couple of hours away. Wish they came closer!
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Angela
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Nov 09 2011 at 7:58am | IP Logged
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Angel wrote:
Dana wrote:
We now live in Shelby County, Jenn. I'm crossing my fingers that their time here isn't going to correspond with our trip to Brazil over Thanksgiving. I love the movie and the whole idea. What an awesome project!
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I'm assuming this isn't the Shelby Co. near me... or I think I would probably know you! The closest they'll come to us is Hardin Co., TN and then the far east corner of MS... that's a couple of hours away. Wish they came closer! |
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I saw their Hardin Co., TN stop and I was wondering if that might be close enough for you guys! Blast that it's not really!!!!! Maybe we could meet in the middle? Like Dana, I'm not sure how the timing will work out when they're flying near us, but we've probably got at least an hour and a half drive if we want to see them. They're flying over northwest Alabama as they fly south, and we live in the North-eastern foothills.
Dana means Shelby county, Alabama, which is just south-east of Birmingham. The whooping cranes and ultralights will fly right over the central part of Shelby county. I can't imagine they'd be there until well after Thanksgiving, Dana, but I could be wrong. They're not flying far each day and the weather really isn't cooperating so far.
I should take a picture of our map. We've plotted their flight path over Alabama and into Georgia. It really helps to see just how far they're flying each day.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Dana
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We will be in Brazil until Dec. 12th or 15th, so hopefully you are right. I would love to see the map!
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Dana
wife to Andre and mother to dd (06/07), ds (12/08), dd (7/10), and ds (6/12)
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Mackfam
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Well, our whooping cranes are stalled in Illinois, so aren't near us yet. Here's hoping next week brings better weather for them!
Mackfam wrote:
| I should take a picture of our map. We've plotted their flight path over Alabama and into Georgia. It really helps to see just how far they're flying each day. |
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It's hard to get a good shot of my map since there is sun glare from any angle, but I tried to take a picture minus glare. I'm not sure if you can make out the little yellow taped "x"s. These indicate a planned stopping point for the whooping cranes, and the red tape is just the flight path connecting the stops across our state.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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Angel
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Awesome map, Jen! Makes it a lot easier to see where that Hardin Co. stop is, too - near Savannah, TN, kind of northeast of Corinth. I think it's about 2 to 2.5 hours away, but closer than the stop in Franklin Co., AL. (What is it with Alabama and TN giving their counties the same names anyway? I'm from Franklin Co., TN!)
The Franklin Co. stop is not too far off the route we take when we drive to my parents' house, though... all we have to do is get the cranes to cooperate with a trip! 
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Angela
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Three Plus Two
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Grace&Chaos
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I've been so impressed by this thread. I can't wait to try something similar when the boys get older.
I was looking through some of our fall/thanksgiving books today and found this small one tucked in them. I can't believe I forgot to mention it:
Amy's Goose by Efner Tudor Holmes(Tasha's daughter) illustrated by Tasha Tudor. It has a copyright date of 1977, but it is about Amy and a wounded Canadian Goose .
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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Angel
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Another picture book to add to the thread:
Song for the Whooping Crane
The cranes are getting closer to us, but wow, this weather! Woke up this morning to 2 inches of snow in northern Mississippi. And this is our 2nd snow in the last 2 weeks!
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Angela
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Mackfam
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I've been meaning to add another book resource to this thread, too. My friend Kym (a member here) reminded me of it.
Whooping Crane by Robert McClung
The cranes are in Northern Kentucky today (12/8/11) and doing great!
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Jen Mackintosh
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MaryM
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Jen, heard the cranes were grounded for a time in your neck of the woods by the FAA. Now that that has been resolved it's the weather. Have you gotten to see them since they have been in Northern AL so long?
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Mary M. in Denver
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Mackfam
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MaryM wrote:
| Have you gotten to see them since they have been in Northern AL so long? |
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Unfortunately no.  We've been out of town too much. And the cranes have had so much trouble moving on between the weather and the FAA hold-up. I bet they'll be happy to wave goodbye to Sweet Home Alabama! They are really behind in their migrating schedule so I hope they can get further south with the nicer weather we're having over the next few days!
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Jen Mackintosh
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KASB
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Due to all the weather and FAA delays the cranes will not make it to Florida this year, but will instead be released on Wheeler Wildlife Refuge near Decatur, AL. We have enjoyed their journey so much, and while it would have been ideal to have them reach their intended winter grounds in FL, we are delighted we may be able to see them in person! Definitely a field trip in our future 
Blessings,
Kym
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Mackfam
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KASB wrote:
Due to all the weather and FAA delays the cranes will not make it to Florida this year, but will instead be released on Wheeler Wildlife Refuge near Decatur, AL. We have enjoyed their journey so much, and while it would have been ideal to have them reach their intended winter grounds in FL, we are delighted we may be able to see them in person! Definitely a field trip in our future
Blessings,
Kym |
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I just saw that on Twitter, Kym! Outdoor Alabama just announced the release on the refuge! Although I'm sad they didn't make it to FL, I'm excited to learn how we might see them! And maybe that could open the door to the possibility of a group of cranes here at Wheeler, which would be great!
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Jen Mackintosh
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KASB
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We had plans to go see the cranes at Wheeler - we used to go see the Sandhill Cranes at Creamer's Field when we were in Alaska, so we wanted to see them at winter grounds also. Being able to see the Whooping Cranes just adds to the excitement of it all ! It would be wonderful to have a group established here, and now with these new cranes joining the ones already at the refuge, it may be a real possibility !
Blessings,
Kym
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MaryM
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This sounds like a nature study field trip in the making. What say we all head to Alabama for a field trip... and wine at Jen's... 
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Mary M. in Denver
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Mackfam
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They made it safely to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge and have been banded! Part of me is sad they didn't make it all the way to Florida, but I am happy they're safe and can overwinter (if you can call this a winter) here.
This has raised some interesting questions here. I always thought a migratory bird stopped migrating because instinctually, it knew it had arrived home. I assumed it would carry on through the journey to get to its overwintering site. Now, perhaps these birds have had their migratory instincts so messed up that this couldn't happen. I mean, this was a flight to *teach them* the eastern migratory path. But, according to one of the crane assistants, no one really knows why they stopped flying south, but the cranes did and that's why they had to stop and transport them to Wheeler.
Joe Duff wrote:
"Yes, of course we are disappointed, but in reality it makes little difference to the cranes. There is something, not entirely known, that stimulates a southern migration in birds. It may be temperature, or the angle of the sun, or a surge of hormones, but at some point that urge wears off.
Because of weather delays and south winds, we may have passed that point with the Class of 2011. In addition, these cranes are reaching the time in their lives when they become independent of their parents. In the end, none of this means much to the birds. They are still part of the Eastern Migratory Population and will still migrate back north. All that is left for us to do is to cross our fingers and hope they make it back to Wisconsin's White River State Wildlife Area." |
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We're so excited about going to see them, and in addition, there has been much Bald Eagle activity in our area....so we're hoping to see them as well!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Angel
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This is a mixture of real information and shameless brag, but... Katie has a post about the whooping cranes up on the American Birding Association's Young Birder's Blog, The Eyrie.
And thanks to this thread, too!
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Angela
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Mackfam
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Angel wrote:
This is a mixture of real information and shameless brag, but... Katie has a post about the whooping cranes up on the American Birding Association's Young Birder's Blog, The Eyrie.
And thanks to this thread, too! |
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Awesome post, Katie!!!!  We loved it!!
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Jen Mackintosh
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jawgee
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My boys are going to participate in bird banding this weekend. Check an Audubon near you to see if you can participate in one, too!
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Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Bird Migration
