Laz and Alta have been paired since 1989, when both were very young. Before they began laying eggs, fertile eggs at Patuxent could only be produced through artificial insemination. However, research indicated that restricting the whoopers' flight ability hampered their ability to breed naturally. Alta and Laz were kept in a net-covered pen and allowed to have full flight capability. In 1991, they produced the first naturally fertile whooping crane egg laid by captive-reared birds.

In the first picture, Alta is in the foreground, and Laz in the background. They are unison calling, which pairs do often to establish territory. Alta has dropped his wingtips in a classic whooper display. He is taller than Laz, which is common, since the males are often larger than the females. Laz's right wing shows damage from an injury she received as a young chick.

Laz and Alta are excellent parents and raise a whooper chick almost every year. They are such good parents that they even raised a sandhill chick the year before Laz started laying eggs. Alta is a very aggressive, dominant male and can be difficult for the crew to work with, especially during breeding season when he becomes more territorial and protective. Alta, who is named for the territory in Canada that his egg came from, has also been nicknamed "Alta-tude" from his habit of leaping high in the air and coming down on top of crewmembers while kick-boxing with his feet. Laz's unusual name is short for "Lazarus." She survived two serious bouts of illness when she was less than two weeks old. She seemed so close to death on both occasions everyone felt it was a miracle she pulled through. Now she is a healthy adult, though she still bears scars from that time. Her damaged wings, which can be seen in her pictures, are some of those.

Laz and Alta have offspring at Patuxent, in the wild in Florida, and in a whooping crane breeding facility in Calgary, Canada.

The whoopers in Wisconsin are migrating now! To follow their progress, log onto the Operation Migration website for recent updates, including pictures, that are posted at the bottom of this page:

To see these videos, 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.

(Download RealPlayer Media)

Whooping Crane Videos:

See Report 12 for more info on dancing cranes:
Dancing Cranes  (160x120)(Real Player Required)
Dancing Cranes  (320x240x300k)(Real Player Required)

See Report 11 for more info on smelt-feeding:
Feeding Smelt to Cranes  (160x120)(Real Player Required)
Feeding Smelt to Cranes  (320x240x300k)(Real Player Required)

See Report 8 for more info on chicks feeding:
Whooper Chick Feeding Video  (160x120)(Real Player Required) 
Whooper Chick Feeding Video (320x240x300k)(Real Player Required)