Tracking Wild Cranes

Yuppers! I finally got to go out on my own to track down wild cranes. I'm walking through Juneau Forest a this point, hauling: camera, notepad, pen, receiver, antenna, scope, and don't forget, steel-toed hip waders!

I definitely needed the hip waders. I was sent out on my own to track this nest, so I started out going directly south of the nest (yes, those were the directions. other directions included, follow the trail until the big puddle and the downed tree :/... anyway...). Directly south of the nest is a series of marshes separated by lines of trees. I quickly discovered that walking through woods is much faster than wading through marsh. Why is there so much downed wood underneath the water!?!

I had to keep reminding myself that I wanted to do this. I wanted to do this. check compass... shit! how did north get to be that way??? Is the compass wrong? no, it can't be wrong. Great, now my phone's dead, and I'm potentially lost in the woods. I wanted to do this.

There were waaay to many mosquitoes. I wasn't armed with bug spray this weekend, but I managed to escape with few bites and no ticks (so far...).

I have to say. I LOVED it! I loved every minute of that grueling hike.

Here are some pics from this weekend!

Got my gear.












Got my boots.








Hiked through all kinds of sludge.












Got the money shot, can you see the bird?









This is a great photo of this nest taken from the Ultralight that flew over earlier in the day!!!







Below is a video of the receiver picking up a signal from one of the bird's transmitters in the field. You can't see the bird at the time of the vid, but she's there, probably low in the grass, brooding her chick. This was what it was like out there (with a whole lot more swarming mosquitoes you can't see).