WHOOPING CRANE CHICK: DAY 12

 
       USFWS photo by Glenn Olsen 

    
 USGS Photo 

These large pens, above, house whooper adults. The building is the crane's feed shed, and acts as a shelter if they need it. The pens are covered with nylon netting to prevent the birds from flying out. The tall lights help duplicate the daylight hours of northern Canada where the wild flock breeds. This helps us stimulate the birds to lay more eggs than they would in the wild. Parent-reared chicks are raised by pairs in these pens.

 
USFWS Photos

Tux is a hand-reared, or costume- reared, chick. This means that he's been raised by humans, while being imprinted on whoopers. Another rearing technique used at Patuxent is parent-rearing. A parent-reared chick is raised by whooper adults in a pen, in a situation similar to the wild. In this picture, you can see a female whooper approaching a food bowl and water jug. Her chick stands near the nest. In the bowl is a combination of crane chick diet and mealworms. The female will feed the mealworms to the chick from the bowl, and soon he'll learn to feed himself, consuming the crumbles and getting a balanced diet. The parents will also teach the chick to drink from the water jug. They will supplement the chick's diet with live food they catch in the pen--insects of all kinds, and small mammals like voles and mice. Parent-reared chicks get a lot of exercise following the parents, and when grown, they are wilder than their hand-reared siblings. Both  parent- reared and hand-reared chicks have been released in Florida.

A female whooper incubates eggs in her pen, while the male stands nearby, ready to take his turn. The next picture shows the nest in the pen with two eggs in it. Some whoopers hatch out the egg they are incubating, while others will accept a chick given to them after hatching. Years of working with the pairs gives us the experience to know what works best with each pair. Parent-reared chicks might be the pair's own chick, or it might be some other pair's chick. Most of the whoopers are very tolerant of egg-switches, or being given a chick that is a few days old. They're eager parents. Each experienced pair is given a chance to raise a chick.

Check our site tomorrow!

Cool Facts:

Photo by Glenn Olsen, USGS Patuxent 
Wildlife Research Center

Because we only want whoopers imprinted on their own species, less than 10 chicks each year are parent-reared. As our young whoopers mature and begin to lay eggs, more chicks can be parent-reared. But because we stimulate the whoopers to lay more eggs than they would in the wild, we will always need to costume-rear most of the chicks. However, letting the whoopers raise a chick of their own has many benefits. It helps strengthen the pair-bond (or the breeding relationship) between the adults. The parent-reared chick is wilder than costume-reared chicks, so later, when grouped with these tame  chicks, this wilder chick will help them become more wary. We can never duplicate all the things crane parents teach their chick. Parent-reared chicks might be able to teach costume-reared chick different behavior patterns.

 See this page for more cool facts each day.

Click here to ask questions about our chick or Patuxent's crane program.