I used think that herding cats or kindergarteners was about the most difficult thing you could do. That is… until I started following the reports on the hand-raised whooping cranes that will be following the ultra lights to Florida.
I’ve taken some clips of the “Early Bird E-bulletin” we get every morning. Wow! These folks are really dedicated!! If you'd like to donate to help with the migration, go to:
http://www.operationmigration.org/contribute.htmDate: October 9, 2009
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: MIGRATION LAUNCH POSTPONED
Location: Necedah, WI
Today was almost the twelfth consecutive day of no flight training with the Class of 2009. In fact, as a result of poor weather, there have only been a handful of training days throughout the past few weeks. All three Cohorts have been together at the Canfield site for some time, and while they are socialized, until this morning they had not flown as one group. And to say that that was happened this morning, would be considered a bit of a stretch.
All the birds were released from the pen together, but getting them all in the air and following was another story. Here a bird, there a bird, everywhere a bird.
Date: October 13, 2009 - Entry 1
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: TWO 'SNOWY' CAMPAIGN UPDATES
Location: Necedah, WI
While Wisconsin may have seen snow in October before, this is the first year we've experienced it before leaving on migration.
Date: October 15, 2009 - Entry 2
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: GOING NOWHERE
Location: Necedah, WI
We woke to a third morning of rain and wind, and as the weatherman said, "If you don't like today's weather, wait a while, it's going to get worse." Dropping temps and freezing rain could be in the offing. Ugh.
Obviously, the OM team and the Class of 2009 will once again be going nowhere.
Date: October 16, 2009 - Entry 2
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: 2009 MIGRATION IS UNDERWAY - of a sort
Location: Necedah, WI
Six days after our October 10th target departure date, the Class of 2009 finally got off on the first leg of their first migration. Sort of....
Camp came alive early. At 4am the temp was 26F and the sky was clear and filled with stars. There wasn't a leaf stirring on the trees - all signs of a potential fly day. By 6:30, vehicles were being warmed up, and the entire team was in motion.
Just after sunrise this morning (7:17am) all four pilots left OM’s hangar for the short flight to the East pensite. While Chris, Brooke, and Richard circled above, Joe, today's lead pilot, landed and signaled the ground crew to open the pen doors. Bev subsequently reported that six were reluctant to come out of the pen, but eventually they got airborne.
And that's when the Crane Rodeo started.
Date: October 16 - Entry 3
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: THE REST OF THE STORY
Location: Necedah, WI
This will be a poor substitute for an exciting lead pilot report, but I'm afraid for today you will have to make do with me as other pressing duties are keeping Joe away from his computer this afternoon.
By the time the dust...er.. cranes settled this morning, we had all 20 birds safely tucked in a pen - but in four different locations.
Back at the East site, from whence this willful bunch of 20 recalcitrants began this morning, are: 912, 918, 927, and 929. In the pen at the West site are: 901, 907, 910, 904, 913, 914, 919, 911, and 903. Keeping each other company at the Canfield site are 905 and 925.
Thanks to 906, 908, 915, 924, and 926 - and their fearless leaders, pilots Brooke and Richard, we can say the 2009 migration has officially begun - sort of. Brooke managed to lead three birds and Richard two, over to the our first Juneau County stopover site. Bev and Brooke have already moved to that location where they will remain camped until our next move.
Date: October 17, 2009 - Entry 2
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: FOUR MORE AT STOPOVER #1
Location: Necedah, WI
Joe, Richard, and Chris took to the air again shortly after 4pm to try and take advantage of the late afternoon calm. Erin and Geoff manned the pen doors for the release. Four of the 13 chicks that remained on the refuge, (those at the East site) are in the air (following Richard) and are enroute to Stopover site #1 where Brian Clauss is waiting to call the birds down.
CraneCam viewers were treated to quite an extended view of the departure as the trike circled around giving the chicks time to 'latch onto the wing'.
Now we have 11 birds at Stopover #1 and 9 still at the refuge. It may not be the fastest way to do a migration leg, but it is progress - - and we'll take it!
Date: October 20, 2009
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: AM I ALLOWED TO SAY, "D--N"?
Location: Necedah, WI
Although east winds opened a potential window for us this morning, we thought a flight today might be a challenge – and it proved to be that and more.
The pilots deployed for an attempt to lead the nine chicks remaining at the West pensite to our Stopover Site #2, as well as to pick up the 11 birds from Stopover Site #1 and lead them there as also.
Everyone was off and running - Heather and Erin to release the birds at the West pensite; Bev and Geoff to Stopover site #1 for the release there, while Brian Clauss went to get in position in the tracking van. Jack Wrighter, Gerald Murphy, and John Cooper were each in a vehicle at the East, North and Canfield pensites to play swamp monsters, in person or with vehicle horns, in case birds decided to land out there.
When Heather and Erin released the birds, Joe, today’s lead pilot, got eight of the nine into the air. One bird, 911, hung back and wouldn’t come out of the wet pen. (Poor Erin got a freezing cold soaking trying to coax him out of the wetpen.) Despite Joe circling and circling to try and get the birds to form up on his wing, they wouldn’t cooperate, and it was another Crane Rodeo.
While Joe flew off with one bird on the wing, Richard swooped in to help with the round-up. And Brooke, who had been on his way to Stopover Site #1, turned back to also lend a hand.
Eventually they got seven birds back on the ground at the West pensite, which, including 911 who never got out of the pen, made eight. Joe managed to make it to Stopover site #1 with his one bird, 907.
So the scorecard now reads: 12 at Stopover Site #1 and 8 still on the refuge. I guess that's progress - but d--n, will we ever get going?!?
Date: October 21, 2009 - Entry 1
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: ONE WORD TELLS THE TALE
Location: Necedah, WI
Today's story can be told in just one word - rain. The inclement weather moved in last evening, persisted through the night, and as it continues, negates any opportunity to fly this morning.
Heather and I are debating whether this is, "Operation Stagnation" or, "Operation Frustration". Seeing this is the 12th morning past our target departure date, I guess both descriptors work.
Date: October 22, 2009 - Entry 2
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: DIFFERENT DAY - SAME STORY
Location: Necedah, WI
Maybe weathermen have a quirky sense of humor. This morning's forecast called for a 40% chance of rain - despite the fact that it hasn't stopped raining since early last evening. Large or small, every indentation in the ground is brimming with water. The puddles are everywhere - and they are likely to grow larger as the prediction for tomorrow is a 100% chance of rain.
Date: October 23, 2009 - Entry 1
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: MIGRATION DAY #8
Location: Juneau Co. WI
You might think that with all of our trailers and motorhomes parked within steps of each other, that communication between team members would be a simple matter. The reality is that at any one time we can have 16 people all going in different directions and all doing different jobs. Not surprisingly, this often leads to several left hands not knowing what the right hands are doing. In the absence of knowledge, assumptions are made.....and you know what they say about ‘assume’.
This is how today got to be Migration Day #8. Yes, that's right, it's Migration Day #8. But, no, you haven't missed anything. While I’ve been waiting for ‘a departure flyover’ and all of the birds to be at Stopover #1 to begin counting Migration Days, I discovered that Joe has been updating the Whooper Hotline daily counting October 16 as Migration Day #1. Sooo, that is how today, October 23rd, got to be Migration Day #8.
Yesterday afternoon, the last eight birds still on the refuge made an inauspicious departure when they were crated and moved to Stopover Site #1. Hopefully, the strange location will encourage their attentiveness and loyalty to the aircraft on the next leg of the migration.
A whooping big thank you from the Class of 2009.
Date: October 31, 2009 - Entry 1
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: WIND-CONSIN OR WET-CONSIN?
Location: S. Juneau Co. WI
Last year, for obvious reasons, we took to calling the Dairy State, 'Wind-consin'. This year however, 'Wet-consin' has been struggling mightily to wrest away the title - and it may be winning. Yet another fight broke out between them last evening as Wind fought Wet in a titanic battle that raged on through the night.
Date: November 1, 2009 - Entry 2
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: BREAKING NEWS 8:40am CST-ish
Location: Sauk Co, WI
It appears as if the cranes and planes are coming in to circle the pen at Stopover #3 in Sauk County - and - it appears as if they have all 20 birds. No doubt you'll be as anxious as I am to read the lead pilot's report of today's flight.
Tune in later this afternoon. Note that it could be quite late this afternoon before it can be written and posted. Everyone now has to drive back to the refuge, pack up, disconnect, and secure our motorhomes, hook up trucks and vans to trailers, clean up and break camp, drive the 60 road miles back to our new camp site, and then get set up there.
Date: November 5, 2009 - Entry 1
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: SO LONG WISCONSIN - - HELLO ILLINOIS!!
Location: Green Co. WI
DistanceTraveled: Green Co. WI to Winnebago Co. IL - 34.0 Miles
Accumulated Distance: 130.4 Miles
As you can tell by the subject line above, we've left Wind-consin (or Wet-consin) behind and are now in flyway state number two, Illinois - or as Brooke calls it, "the land of flat".
As darkness fell yesterday it got colder and colder. That was good news. The return of the chilly temperatures heralded a change in wind direction. As the winds swung around from the south to blow from west and then from the NW, the temperature continued to drop.
By early morning it was 29F, and while we had almost negligible westerly surface winds there were gusts up to 2mph. Aloft the NW winds were stronger, reading around 10mph which meant if it wasn't to trashy, the planes and cranes would have a tailwind to give the a little push.
Date: November 7, 2009
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: Migration Day 23
Location: Winnebago Co. IL
As with yesterday, today's weather is not amenable for a flight with cranes and planes. We have a mild 54F. But even on the surface the winds are strong, 5 - 9mph out of the SW, and aloft they are blowing a stiff 35 to 40.
Whether you say it in Spanish, - demasiado viento; in French - trop de vent; or in German - zu windig, it's too windy. This will be Down Day #2 in Winnebago County, IL.
Date: November 8, 2009 - Entry 1
Reporter: Liz Condie
Subject: Migration Day #24
Location: Winnebago Co. IL
If, instead of being in Illinois, we were in Holland, Poland, or Italy, we would describing this morning's conditions as: te winderig, zbyt wietrznie, and troppo vento, respectively.
Yes, once again it's too windy for the cranes and planes, so this will be Down Day #3 in Winnebago County.
The REAL bare spot! 
