THE WHOOPING CRANE REPORT: 22

It takes the hard work of many people to make this project successful. Staff members from Patuxent, the International Crane Foundation, Operation Migration, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership and other groups and
individuals make up the team. Kneeling in the front row are Patuxent staff members Dan Sprague (far left), and Brian Clauss (far right).

All photos copyrighted by and used with permission from 
Operation Migration.

On November 30, 2002, 16 young-of-the-year whooping cranes successfully completed a journey of 1202.8 miles that began at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin and ended at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge on Florida's central west coast. This is the second year that whoopers have followed ultralight aircraft to learn a new migration route as the first step in establishing a new migratory flock of whoopers. 

Last year, 7 whoopers followed the ultralights from Wisconsin to Florida. Five survived the winter and successfully migrated back to Wisconsin at their own initiative. The 5 birds have been living wild in and around the Necedah Refuge since then, and some time after this year's group began their journey, the 5 older birds followed the pattern they had learned from their human and mechanical parents and returned to Florida on their own.  The first older bird to arrive in Florida, the female #7 known for going her own way, took about 5 days to make the trip. Three more of  the birds arrived at the refuge shortly after.  The last reports said that the last of the 5 was taking the scenic route, and spending time in Tennessee with a flock of sandhills. 

The fact that these first 5 whoopers are independently migrating at appropriate times of the year, and selecting the right kinds of habitat as they travel, is a strong indication that the methods that Patuxent and its many partners in the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) have developed are working as we hoped they would.

This year's flock of birds, raised at Patuxent and given their initial "ground-school" training there, spent 49 days on the migration. Only twenty-one of those days were spent actually flying. Rain, fog, high winds, and other weather problems kept the birds and planes on the ground the rest of the time. Last year's trip took 50 days and experienced similar weather problems, which are fairly typical in the changing fall environment.

One situation, however, made this year very different from the last one. On November 24, as the juvenile whoopers flew from Meigs Co., Tennesee to Gordon Co., Georgia, two whoopers from last year's migration -- on their own independent journey from Necedah to Florida -- joined the youngsters behind the ultralight for about five miles. When the younger birds were in Necedah being trained, the crew had to discourage the older birds from harassing the younger ones on several occasions. This time, too, some of the younger birds dropped out of the flight formation when the older birds intruded. Because there are always three to four ultralights in the air during each flight, another plane was ready and "picked up" those younger birds, guiding
them back to safe areas. The older birds, after breaking off from the plane, continued on their way to Florida.

The one sad event that occurred during the migration was on the very first day when crane #10 struck the aircraft while in flight and was injured. He received medical care immediately, and was sent to the International Crane Foundation (link) for treatment.  Unfortunately, while his visible wounds were mending, the bird never regained his mobility or his appetite. Fourteen days later he had to be humanely euthanized. Everyone involved in endangered species work knows that, realistically, some birds will be lost in the process -- but it is always a sad event, and every effort is made to safeguard each and every bird. 

The other 16 birds -- now veteran fliers -- can take it easy in sunny Florida, getting used to their new home, and growing strong and wild in preparation for the return trip back to Wisconsin that we hope they will make when winter ends. 

You can read the entire migration story in detail and see many more photos at:

Operation Migration's website:

http://www.operationmigration.org  

and also at the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership website:

http://www.bringbackthecranes.org  

For more interesting news and information about whoopers and the reintroduction effort, check out our other partner's websites at the bottom of our page.

Please check our site on January 30th for a web page update.

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