Eight whooping crane chicks arrived June 25 at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin to begin preparation for their fall migration behind ultralight aircraft.
The eight chicks are members of the “Class of 2009”, which will be the ninth group of endangered whooping cranes to take part in a project conducted by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), a coalition of public and private organizations that is reintroducing a migratory flock of whooping cranes in eastern North America, part of their historic range. Thanks to WCEP’s efforts, there are now 80 wild cranes in this population.
The chicks comprise the first cohort of young whooping cranes to arrive by private aircraft from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., where the birds hatched and learned to follow costumed biologists and ultralight aircraft on the ground. Following a veterinarian checkup that showed that all of the birds were healthy, they were shipped to Necedah NWR in large crates, in aircraft provided by Windway Capital Corp. A quick check by veterinarians upon arrival showed that the birds were ready for their new home on Necedah NWR. Two more cohorts of chicks will be shipped from Patuxent to Necedah NWR in a few weeks.
A field team from Operation Migration, Inc. and the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center will spend the summer strengthening the social cohesion of the flock and teaching them to fly behind the ultralights. This fall, Operation Migration will use ultralights to guide the young cranes on their first southward migration to Florida, the cranes’ winter home.
"Training and husbandry of the whooping crane chicks went very smoothly this year, thanks to all the help we received from Patuxent volunteers and from Operation Migration folks,” said John French, research manager for the whooping crane program at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. “Things look good for a large group of chicks for the ultralight migration in 2009."
In addition to the ultralight-led birds, biologists from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rear whooping crane chicks at Necedah NWR and release them in the company of older cranes from whom the young birds learn the migration route. This is the fifth year WCEP has used this Direct Autumn Release method.
In 2001, WCEP project partner Operation Migration’s pilots led the first whooping crane chicks, conditioned to follow their ultralight aircraft surrogates, south from Necedah NWR to Chassahowitzka NWR in Florida. Each subsequent year, WCEP biologists and pilots have conditioned and guided additional groups of juvenile cranes to Florida. Having been shown the way once, the young birds initiate their return migration in the spring, and in subsequent years, continue to migrate on their own.
In 2008, in addition to wintering at Chassahowitzka NWR, half of the ultralight-led cranes spent the winter at the St. Marks NWR along Florida’s Gulf Coast. The decision to split the cohort came after the loss in February 2007 of 17 of the 18 Class of 2006 whooping cranes in a severe storm at Chassahowitzka NWR. WCEP hopes the two wintering locations will help reduce the risk of another catastrophic loss.
Whooping cranes that take part in the ultralight and Direct Autumn Release reintroductions are hatched at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., and at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis. Chicks are raised under a strict isolation protocol and to ensure the birds remain wild, handlers adhere to a no-talking rule and wear costumes designed to mask the human form.
In the spring and fall, project staff from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service track and monitor the released cranes in an effort to learn as much as possible about their unassisted journeys and the habitat choices they make both along the way and on their summering and wintering grounds.
Most graduated classes of whooping cranes spend the summer in central Wisconsin, where they use areas on or near the Necedah NWR, as well as other public and private lands.
Whooping cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there are only about 515 birds in existence, approximately 360 of them in the wild. Aside from the 80 WCEP birds, the only other migrating population of whooping cranes nests at the Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada and winters at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migrating flock of approximately 30 birds lives year-round in the central Florida Kissimmee region.
Whooping cranes, named for their loud and penetrating unison calls, live and breed in wetland areas, where they feed on crabs, clams, frogs and aquatic plants. They are distinctive animals, standing five feet tall, with white bodies, black wing tips and red crowns on their heads.
WCEP asks anyone who encounters a whooping crane in the wild to please give them the respect and distance they need. Do not approach birds on foot within 200 yards; remain in your vehicle; do not approach in a vehicle within 100 yards. Also, please remain concealed and do not speak loudly enough that the birds can hear you. Finally, do not trespass on private property in an attempt to view or photograph whooping cranes.
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership founding members are the International Crane Foundation, Operation Migration, Inc., Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and National Wildlife Health Center, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, and the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team.
Many other flyway states, provinces, private individuals and conservation groups have joined forces with and support WCEP by donating resources, funding and personnel. More than 60 percent of the project’s budget comes from private sources in the form of grants, public donations and corporate sponsors.
First Whooping Cranes of the "Class of 2009" Arrive at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge
