I See Wonderful Things Ahead

     I after reading through the whoopers’ bio several times and scanning the many months of field notes, I couldn’t find anything astonishing about #10-11. In his first few days of life, he was praised for not getting into mischief or lapsing into la-la land. When poked by a cage mate, #10-11 turned the other feather and went back to his nap. Being one of the youngest in this year’s class, he was a reluctant flyer, but soon after migration began, he stepped up to the runway and soared. A few days before the ultimate takeoff, intern Geoff Tarbox found a bald spot on the side of the chick’s neck; an indication he’d been in a scuffle; never a good sign. However, #10-11 seemed to take the incident in stride and went about his daily birdie activities as if it were no big deal.
     I feel that this little crane is just getting warmed up and that we will see great things from him in the future. Right now, he’s flying below the radar and doing what is expected of him.
Currently the cranes are waiting out the bad weather in Franklin County, Alabama.

     This information and the chick’s photo came from the OM website: http://www.operationmigration.org/
Read more about the Class of 2011 by going to the website’s “In the Field,” then “Site Map,” and scroll down until you see the bios for the various classes. You can also purchase whooping crane merchandize on the website: jewelry, T-shirts, greeting cards, etc (great for Christmas gifts). And you can sponsor migration miles. There are more than 500 left for this year. 
Next Sunday, I’ll feature spunky little #12/11, the youngest chick in the flock.