19 April 2009

Whoopers at Playa Wetland Amidst Potential Turbine Project

The occurrence of two adult Whooping Cranes has been confirmed at a playa wetland on the West Table, west of Broken Bow.

The two birds were first noted by Maxine and Ed Wehling on Saturday April 18, at 7:30 p.m. The wetland is just a few miles northwest of the Wehling place.

"Saturday night, Ed and I were driving the wetland playas, looking," Maxine Wehling wrote in an email. "We found the strikingly beautiful whoopers about 7:30 p.m., in the large wetland," that was featured in a story recently written about the central table playas.

"We were thrilled to see them. They are breath-taking to look upon. The one was slightly larger in the body, and would flap it's wings, pick it's feet off the ground, and do a dance of sorts!"

"We called the whooper watch number to report the siting, followed by calls to Ben Wheeler."

The presence of the cranes was confirmed by Wheeler on Sunday morning.

The wetland where the whoopers were noted is the third wetland pictured in the article, and located about five miles northwest of the Wehling place.

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