The Plan for 2016
April, 2016 Pilot Joe Duff (edit, click link)
Fish and Wildlife Service ended the UL release method 2016 January.
All future releases must maximize chick/parent association, the first question to answer was how that would affect the captive breeding centers that must provide the chicks.
Parent reared birds are wanted.
Louisiana still wants costume reared birds.
Captive breeding pairs often produce more than the normal two eggs. The first clutch is taken. Just prior to the emergence of Black flies, they are going to pull the eggs from half of the active nests in hopes those pairs will try again. That second clutch is generally laid after the black flies are gone.
All the success we have had with wild breeding so far has been the result of late or second nest attempts. It is hoped that these birds will still be influenced by the hormones that drive nesting, nurturing and defensive behavior.
The second target will be young, inexperienced pairs that have failed at their first attempt to breed. Any PR chicks will be released near single or groups of unpaired adult Whooping cranes.
Releasing 15 birds will take a lot of manpower to manage. OM will assist as needed, plus track some of those birds as they move south. This spring we will be tracking and monitoring pairs around White River and Horicon to see if we actually do have some young pairs and what happens to any eggs they might produce. In addition, we will assist in replacing non-functioning tracking devices. Some birds need to be captured and their devices replaced.
Brooke will be heading north this weekend and Heather and I will head out to Wisconsin later this week. Rather than watch the behavior of birds in the pen every day we will spend more time watching the wild, post release birds
and we will take you along with us.
http://operationmigration.org/InTheField/2016/04/11/the-plan-for-2016http://operationmigration.org/InTheField
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Topic: Whooping Cranes, Operation Migration (Read 113399 times)