THE WHOOPING CRANE REPORT: 12
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Film and photos Jennifer Green, USGS
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The Dance
The whoopers' dance is legendary. Native Americans emulated it in their
own Crane Dance. There's usually no warning that the birds are about to
dance, they just do it when the spirit moves them. Young chicks run and
play, but actual dancing doesn't usually start until they have enough
wing-power to fly. In the wild, the dancers can leap very high, using
their wings to attain loft. In our pens, they are limited by the flight
netting, but can still achieve an impressive jump. Sometimes the cranes
will throw sticks in the air and kick at them in play. Dancing almost
always indicates good health and high spirits. The birds in this pen are young and have not yet produced eggs. The
crew has hand-dug a small pond in their pen. The water gives them more
behavioral opportunities. We hope that the stimulation of the pond will
encourage these birds to breed early. They certainly are enjoying it,
spending a lot of time probing and wading. And on this day, they were
inspired to dance. Their pen is much larger than the small area
surrounding the pond, yet they stay close to water during their impromptu
performance. Jenn was lucky enough to have the video camera on hand when these birds
began to dance since it's not something we can predict. Dancing lasts as
long as the birds want it to. Sometimes it's just a quick burst of action,
and other times can go on for quite a while. Either way, it is always a real
treat for the crew to witness dancing. The exuberance of the birds is
infectious. To follow the progress of the whoopers in Wisconsin, log onto the
Operation Migration website for recent updates, including pictures, that
are posted at the bottom of this page: http://www.operationmigration.org/field_2001_spr.html To see the newest video, you will need to install the free Real
Player
application. Go to the Real Player link, above, and make sure you select
Download Free Real Player 8 Basic. The .rm extension on the files
indicates a RealVideo file. To view Real Player 8 minimum system
requirements, click here.
The rate with which you connect with our system can affect the quality of
the video transmission. Low connectivity rates caused by noisy phone lines
or heavy internet traffic may make the video hard to view. If that
happens, try during a less busy time and the video may transmit better.
Some systems may not have the appropriate hardware or internet connection
to handle videos so we provide the still-photos on the left, that were
taken directly from the videos. These photos show some of the scenes from
the video, so users who cannot access the video can still experience the
story. Dancing
Cranes Previous Whooping Crane Videos: See Report 11 for more info on
smelt-feeding: See Report 10 for more info on pre-flight
training: See Report
8 for more info on chicks feeding: Please check our site on November 1 for a web page update and new footage! |
Click here to ask questions about Patuxent's whooping crane program. Please check our site on November 1 for a web page update and new crane footage!
Whooping Crane Reports| 7 |
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Hatch Day (Click on numbered links to view all other egg (negative numbers) and chick days).
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(160x120)(Real Player Required)