FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Knox Whooping Crane Has Left Looney's Island

[TennWren@xxxxxxx]

The Whooping Crane reported on Knox County's Looney's Island in the Tennessee 
River in West Knoxville's Sequoyah Hills neighborhood left the island about 
10:30 a.m.-today March 11. The gentleman who first phoned me about the bird's 
presence this morning about 9:15 said the bird took off at 10:30 and spiraled 
higher and higher into the air as it circled over Sequoyah Hills. It climbed so 
high that the man lost track of it with his binoculars.
 
I saw the bird about 10:00 am and watched it for about 15 minutes. I left to 
go phone someone to come with a good spotting scope to read any numbers on the 
bands and to phone TWRA about the bird's presence so they can contact the 
Whooping Crane organizations. When I returned after 10:30 I could not locate 
the 
bird.
 
You'd think it would be easy to tell which leg the transmitter was on and 
which leg the colored bands were on, but it wasn't. Looking through a telescope 
from a couple of hundred feet away into the glare of the sun, I noted that the 
transmitter with its antenna aimed downward was on the right leg. Later I 
decided it was on the left leg. Three colored bands were on the other leg. The 
top 
band looked white (or pale yellow), the middle band looked green and the 
bottom band was red. I was looking at a side view of the crane. 
 
I later asked the gentleman who called me what he saw. He also looked through 
a telescope, but thought the transmitter was on the right leg. He's sure, as 
he said he looked at it at least three times. He saw the white and green bands 
but not the red and thought he saw a third band down low near the foot. He 
had a different angle on the bird.
 
Does anyone know the color coding for the bands on the whooping cranes or 
know if the transmitters are always attached to the same leg? 
 
Marcia Davis
Knoxville, TN
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