I've received the following message, with specific guidelines from one of the people who monitor the whereabouts of the Whooping Cranes. To many of you, these must be well-known. To me, the specifics were new, and maybe that would be so for others. I originally tried reporting the birds to the RBA, thinking that the safest, but the post would not go through, so I went to the regular list-serves.( Perhaps it was rejected precisely so it would not be entered in the general postings.) It had never occurred to me in my ignorance that the birds might be on something other than a very temporary foraging expedition. I fully expected them to be gone within a day, off back to Necedah. If the birds are choosing to stick around that vulnerable location, my posting may have caused them safety problems, which I regret. I can only hope others are more knowledgeable than I was, and will follow the guidelines provided (Linda Whyte):
"My name is Eva Szyszkoski and I work for the International Crane Foundation as part of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership’s Monitoring and Management Team. We are responsible for monitoring the Whooping Cranes in the Eastern Migratory Population (EMP). We received your report of the two cranes you spotted near Dennison in Rice County, MN on 21 May. Thank you for your report! These two birds are both juvenile males, #’s 1-10 and 8-10. They apparently arrived at this location in Rice County shortly before you reported them. They had previously been at the Necedah NWR in Wisconsin and at a location in Goodhue County, MN. It sounds as though these birds are in a very visible location as we have been getting numerous reports on them. Hopefully they stay out of trouble. One of our major concerns with the birds in the EMP (especially young ones) is the possibility that they will become habituated to people. This is a concern not only for their own safety and well-being, but also for the safety of the public. We ask that observers keep the following guidelines in mind when viewing a Whooping Crane: WCEP (the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership) asks anyone who encounters a whooping crane in the wild to please give it the respect and distance it needs. Do not approach birds on foot within 600 feet; remain in your vehicle; do not approach in a vehicle within 600 feet or, if on a public road, within 300 feet. Also, please remain concealed and do not speak loudly enough that the bird can hear you. Finally, do not trespass on private property in an attempt to view whooping cranes. Also, please do not report the bird on a birding list or to the media, to keep the amount of attention it receives to a minimum." ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html