[mou] whooping cranes- Meeker co.

[fredericksonr@willmar.k12.mn.us]

The pair of cranes in Meeker co. was observed from about 7:15-8:00 this
morning.  Both parties there looking for them were fortunate to see them
flying (from what we presume to be the roost site) to the area they were
feeding in yesterday evening, and again this morning.  They flew from an
area about 1.5 mi ENE of the feeding area.  There is a lot of good looking
crane habitat here.  Had the birds not been out to feed in the corn
stubble, finding them would have been difficult at best.

The birds only fed for about 40 minutes before they flew off to the NNE.
They were low in flight, perhaps suggesting they didn't travel far.

I did not see the  Rice county bird last year, so could someone please let
me know how it was marked.  leg bands? any collar?  radio transmitter
visible?

Both these birds had leg bands:
bird #1 left leg- red over white, right leg- white over green over white
bird #2 left leg- red over white, right leg- white over green over red
We had fairly good looks through scopes from 150-200 yards and are
reasonably certain these birds had no other "hardware"

These birds appeared to be a mated pair (or had peculiar sexual
preferences), as they were observed doing the crane dance several times.
They vocalized once on the ground and once in the air. A totally awesome
experience!

Randy Frederickson
Willmar


p.s.
I will return to the crane site this evening and post findings by Monday a.m.

p.p.s. People looking for these birds and not finding them are strongly
encouraged to share this information.  It helps others still contemplating
travel.  (I cannot believe only two people looked for the Brown pelican on
Saturday and there were only two posts).