Rfalconcam Forum

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20140114/NEWS01/301140085/Reward-offered-whooping-cranes-illegally-shot-Western-Kentucky  (http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20140114/NEWS01/301140085/Reward-offered-whooping-cranes-illegally-shot-Western-Kentucky)

If anyone would like to make a personal donation to the reward fund, here are instructions:

http://kyc4sandhillcranes.com/ (http://kyc4sandhillcranes.com/)

If you continue reading below the photo, you'll see that even if they are ultimately unable to use the money for a reward, the money will support Operation Migration, so either way it goes for a good cause.

the life stories of the two killed cranes:
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/09/BandingCodes905.html (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/09/BandingCodes905.html)
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/07/BandingCodes733.html (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/07/BandingCodes733.html)

the life stories of the two killed cranes:
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/09/BandingCodes905.html (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/09/BandingCodes905.html)
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/07/BandingCodes733.html (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/07/BandingCodes733.html)
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Thanks for these links, Dale.  It is good to know that the ICF maintains biographies on eaxh bird.

Gayle

We're on a migration route for this Eastern flock, and there's an area about one hour south of Louisville where big flocks of Sandhill Cranes stop over for a few weeks on their journeys north.  Two years ago in February we found two Whooping Cranes hanging out with the Sandhills...it was really exciting to see a couple of nearly-extinct birds in the wild.  
http://photos.bellhanley.com/Birds-Bats-Butterflies/Around-Kentucky/Cranes-Cecilia-2012/21392635_9JCZnS (http://photos.bellhanley.com/Birds-Bats-Butterflies/Around-Kentucky/Cranes-Cecilia-2012/21392635_9JCZnS)

The US F&W service has an online form where you can report Whooping Crane sightings; they work with the International Crane foundation to keep tabs on the birds.  So I reported the two, and received a nice email back with the info below:

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. We received your report of the two Whooping Cranes you saw in Hardin County, KY, on 4 February.

Thank you for your report! These two cranes are breeding pair numbers 15-04 and 5-05 (your crane #1 below is male #5-05). These two wintered at the Hiwassee WR in Tennessee and have since moved on to Jackson County, Indiana. This area in Hardin County is becoming a regular spring migration stopover location for them.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Sincerely,
Eva

The cool thing is that Dale's links led me to more bios of these two!  Thanks, Dale.

Your photo link doesn't work for me, Patti.   :confused:

Sorry, Kris...missed one letter...I corrected it above, but here it is:
http://photos.bellhanley.com/Birds-Bats-Butterflies/Around-Kentucky/Cranes-Cecilia-2012/21392635_9JCZnS (http://photos.bellhanley.com/Birds-Bats-Butterflies/Around-Kentucky/Cranes-Cecilia-2012/21392635_9JCZnS)