Remember "Fly Away Home"?

pam.in.ny · 07-19-2011, 07:44 PM

Last year, I found a webcam of whooping cranes. Knowing there are less than 600 in existence, it caught my interest. The group of young whooping cranes were flying to St. Marks, FL by following an ultra-lite aircraft and the webcam was mounted on trike. It was awesome and I became hooked. Now that most of the eaglets have fledge, I thought about the whooping cranes. Well, they are back again this year, although a new groups of chicks born in May at Paxutent, MD. They are now just learning to fly and also starting to train for their journey to Florida this fall with the ultra-light. I was watching the live cam this morning and was able to capture 3 of the chicks actually take off behind the ultra-light. It was amazing. Tonight, I watched the recording of it again and enjoyed it as much. Anyone wanting to watch these sessions and the chicks learn to fly, they are in WI and start around 7:00 EDT for us here in the East. A nice change of pace now the other raptors have grown up enough to leave their nests. Here is the clip I recorded of this morning.

pam.in.ny · 07-25-2011, 06:42 PM

I was watching this morning's training and saw a cute incident just before the chicklets were led into their pen. Tonight I recorded it while watching it. After the training session, the whooper chicklets are rewarded with a treat of grapes and mealy worms. However, one was more interested in the seat belt buckle on the trike.

Maybe he thought it would taste better than the worms. The white costumes are to emulate adult whooping cranes. The chicklets have never seen a human nor heard a human's voice.

07-19-2011, 07:44 PM	#1
pam.in.ny Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 92 Thanks: 98 Thanked 14 Times in 12 Posts	Remember "Fly Away Home"? Last year, I found a webcam of whooping cranes. Knowing there are less than 600 in existence, it caught my interest. The group of young whooping cranes were flying to St. Marks, FL by following an ultra-lite aircraft and the webcam was mounted on trike. It was awesome and I became hooked. Now that most of the eaglets have fledge, I thought about the whooping cranes. Well, they are back again this year, although a new groups of chicks born in May at Paxutent, MD. They are now just learning to fly and also starting to train for their journey to Florida this fall with the ultra-light. I was watching the live cam this morning and was able to capture 3 of the chicks actually take off behind the ultra-light. It was amazing. Tonight, I watched the recording of it again and enjoyed it as much. Anyone wanting to watch these sessions and the chicks learn to fly, they are in WI and start around 7:00 EDT for us here in the East. A nice change of pace now the other raptors have grown up enough to leave their nests. Here is the clip I recorded of this morning.

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07-25-2011, 06:42 PM	#2
pam.in.ny Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 92 Thanks: 98 Thanked 14 Times in 12 Posts	I was watching this morning's training and saw a cute incident just before the chicklets were led into their pen. Tonight I recorded it while watching it. After the training session, the whooper chicklets are rewarded with a treat of grapes and mealy worms. However, one was more interested in the seat belt buckle on the trike. Maybe he thought it would taste better than the worms. The white costumes are to emulate adult whooping cranes. The chicklets have never seen a human nor heard a human's voice.