Hi Chuck, That would be a great sighting for sure!

Here's a little information from the Interntional Crane Foundation's web site; below are a couple of reports detailing the status of the 65 cranes surviving from the eastern flyway re-establishment program's (Operation Migration) previous efforts. One note, the family referred to (known as the "First Family") consists of two mated adult birds from the class of '02 who hatched a pair of chick this year at Necedah NWR, the first wild-born chicks of this project. One went missing in Sep.; it's remains were found last month on the refuge, the apparent victim of a predator. So all eyes and hope are in the remaining sibling.

____________________________________________________________________________ Whooping Crane Family Begins Migration! November 21, 2006

The Whooping Crane family at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, Wisconsin began their southbound migration on November 19. The two adult cranes, numbers 11-02 and 17-02, along with their chick #W2-06, moved from their territory on the evening of November 18 to another location on the refuge. They roosted in a large staging flock containing 19 Whooping Cranes and more than 1,000 Sandhill Cranes. The next morning the family moved to Necedah Lake, outside the refuge, where they departed on migration. They landed to roost that evening in Vermillion County, Indiana. This migration marks another milestone for the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, as these Whooping Crane parents lead their chick on her first migration south!

Excellent migration conditions occurred on November 19 and resulted in a mass migration of Sandhill and Whooping Cranes. Twenty-eight Whooping Cranes began migration and 4 others moved farther south in Central Wisconsin. On November 20, only 12 Whooping Cranes (5 pairs and 2 DAR juveniles) remained at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.

Whooping Crane Update, December 5, 2006

The 12 Whooping Cranes who had not yet begun their fall migration from Wisconsin all departed on the 29th and 30th of November, following an arctic air mass that moved into the state.

The current distribution of the 65 Whooping Cranes in the eastern migratory population is: Illinois (6), Indiana (18), Michigan (1), Tennessee (1), Florida (18), and undetermined (21). The Whooping Crane family remains in Vermillion County, Indiana. They arrived in their current location on November 19. _____________________________________________________________________________

Marion Dobbs O> Rome (Floyd Co) GA / ) marion@mindspring.com /

----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck Cape" <myhikingboots@YAHOO.COM> To: <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 8:24 AM Subject: [GABO-L] Possible Whooping Cranes Sighting?

| My girlfriend and I were in our backyard in East Atlanta Saturday morning | about 11am, and caught a brief glimpse of a handful of large white birds | with black wing tips flying due south. Wood Storks or White Ibis, or maybe | Whooping Cranes? | | Chuck Cape | |

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