Chassahowitzka NWR

What a week! All five (#3-10, 9-10, 15-10, 16-10 and 17-10) of the Class of 2010's Chass chicks are doing great. Crane #3 has an incredibly large red patch already, and barely any brown feathers at all! A look at the "kids:"

Eating at the Feeders

Photos Eva Szyszkoski

Males #912, 924 and 41-09 (DAR) stopped at the pen on the evening of March 18 and stayed until March 20. We don't know where they wintered in Florida. They didn't cause any problems with the chicks because when they tried to come into the pen, #827 (who showed up Feb. 21) and the chicks chased them back out. Crane 827's aggressiveness is drastically reduced. Sometimes he even lets the chicks eat from the same feeders as he does.

ICF tracking field Manager Eva is with the Chass Five this winter. She will track them back to Wisconsin, too!

St. Marks NWR

Crane-kids #1-10 and #8-10 left St. Marks NWR and began their first northward migration March 21, the first full day of spring! Brooke said they left sometime between 10:30 and 4:45 pm. He had seen no behaviors that would indicate their intention to start migrating. They began the journey north with yearling cranes #925 and #929, who had been at the pen site with the chicks all winter. Meanwhile, the remaining three (5-10, 6-10, and 10-10) are flying more and flying farther, using feeders less and finding more food in the marsh. They are ready for migration!

Here's a look at all five just a week ago to show how they've changed over the past couple of months. Do you see that very little of the rusty brown coloring remains on the youngsters? Now it's hard to tell the five juveniles in the Class of 2010 from yearling cranes #925 and #929, who have been spending the winter with them.

Images: Joseph Bonislawsky, member of the St. Marks Photo Club. He airboated out to the blind with Brooke Mar. 19-20 weekend and took these photos!