Thanks,
shep. Yes... I'm also hoping to hear something positive about the cranes... fingers crossed that they are found and are okay after Hermine's hurricane force landfall there in St. Marks. I'm nervous to hear the news. But I'm also wondering...
And I've lost track of when the whoopers are at the St. Marks refuge in Florida... Don't they arrive there later in the year for winter? Or are they already there, or are some of them there year-round maybe? I wasn't sure about that, but knew that in the past, some of them have arrived on those grounds for the winter in December, if I recall. I appreciate any info anyone has on that... I just haven't kept up on that recently and my memory isn't good on what I've read about that in the past. Thanks!
I did some light googling to look for any recnt storm-related news about the whoopers at St. Marks, but didn't find anything pertinent in the online news media, and only found these other sites witht he info I mention with each link below...
I went looking just now - no news on the OM Field Notes page about that yet... I did find the public (all can view)
"Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge" Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/gotoSt.Marks - not the official FB page for that refuge, but informational and has pics/vids...
There is a post there today saying they just got their power back on at the visitor center there and are therefore now open again... said the lighthouse and the eagle's nest are still standing.
They also have this relate "Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge" website:
http://www.stmarksrefuge.org/cranes.htm - no news there about the aftermath of the storm yet.
That was info shared from
THE OFFICIAL public facebook page (all can view it) for St. Marks and St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuges at:https://www.facebook.com/SMSVNWRS/?ref=page_internalThere is more info about the storm at that official FB link, and a couple of photos showing debris, but I didn't see any reference to the whooping cranes in the time I scrolled down that FB page or in the sparse comments under the posts about the storm on that FB page. I did a very quick look-see, so could've missed something. I'm not a member of FB, so I can't pose a question there about the whoopers...
They did say this in one of the posts today there on that official FB page for St. Marks Wildlife Refuge:
"Fall migrants are arriving at St. Marks, although some may have been blown off course by Hermine, they'll find their way back. Go to this web site and get involved with protecting migratory birds every day. https://www.fws.gov/birds/MBTreaty100/index.php " - but there was no specific reference to the whoopers that I found there - so far. I'm sure the people working there are all very busy doing many things because of Hurricane Hermine.
I also found the National Wildlife Service (NWS) official web page for the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge at:
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/st_marks/I found this alert posted on their page before the storm made landfall:
Refuge Closed!
Storm Closure
The St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge announced that the Visitor Center and Lighthouse Road are closed due to Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hermine. High winds and flooding are expected. Both the Visitor Center and the road will remain closed until further notice. Refuge crews will need to make safety and community access to homes the first and second priorities before we can open Lighthouse Rd.I made a quick pass of that website but didn't readily find any news about the whoopers there just now.
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Topic: Whooping Cranes, Operation Migration (Read 113453 times)