[TN-Bird] School Field Trip to Hiwassee and Rehabilitated Whooping Crane Video
- From: Charles Murray <dro_1945@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2013 09:50:54 -0800 (PST)
At the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Meigs County at Birchwood yesterday, Dan
Hicks, III, Information and Education Coordinator,
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Region III, Crossville, TN, told me how to
find an online video that he made at the release of the rehabilitated
juvenile whooping crane on February 9 at Hiwassee. Several
photographs by Dan and by Eva Szyszkoski, Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership
Tracking Field Manager, can also be accessed at:
http://www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2013/006.html
The Olin Corporation of Charleston, TN, has sponsored visits by fifth-graders
from counties near the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and the Cherokee Removal
Memorial Park for about
three years. Yesterday, some
200 students from Charleston, Calhoun, and Meigs South elementary schools
visited the CRMP and HWR. The students heard presentations at the CRMP about
the history of
the Trail of Tears, and they enjoyed seeing Native American artifacts and
dances and hearing about how the Cherokees hunted, made clothing, and cooked.
At the HWR, the students benefitted from hearing Tennessee
Wildlife Resources Agency staff talk about the wildlife of the state. They also
had an enjoyable demonstration by a TWRA K-9 officer and his dog, and the
students got to view a few cranes and other wildlife through spotting scopes
provided
by members of the TOS. A few sandhill cranes, at least six immature bald
eagles, about 25 snow geese, Canada geese, hooded mergansers, and several great
blue herons were noted, as was one skunk (fortunately at a great distance.)
Rick Houlk demonstrated how the endangered whooping cranes
are tracked, and I showed the students photos of the cranes' leg bands and
tracking transmitters provided at the last minute by an email from Eva
Szyszkoski. The students were scheduled to be at the
Hiwassee area on January 18,just before the Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival,
but icy roads canceled area schools that day.
Charles Murray
Birchwood, TN
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