Whooping Crane Photo Gallery |
At 65 days of age, the chick is almost fully grown. He's starting to fly, and all his down is gone. His feathers are a combination of cinnamon and white, except for the black wing tips he already has. The color combination helps to camouflage him in the wild. His eyes have changed from blue to gold, though there is still a hint of green in them. As he gets older, the cinnamon feathers will shed, one-by-one, and be replaced with white ones until, after a year, he'll be completely white. (Photo by Kathleen O'Malley, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center) |