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The
Eastern Flock's First Winter at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge
Background
The photos below give a snapshot of the first winter
for the new Eastern flock of whooping cranes. These birds were hatched
in spring 2001 and raised in captivity. They were led on a selected
migration route by costumed humans in ultralight airplanes in the fall
of 2001. This bold experiment aims to reintroduce whooping cranes to
Eastern North America, where they have been extirpated (gone
from the area) for over a century. What measures were taken to keep
the cranes safe as they revert to the wild? What were the challenges?
The captions tell the basics. Activities are provided below for those
who want to dig deeper.
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| Seven
whoopers arrived Dec. 3*
after a 48-day, 1217-mile journey led by
ultralight airplanes from Wisconsin, where the cranes had learned
to fly and will spend each summer. |
The
Refuge, 65 miles north of St Petersburg. is marshlands, swamps,
shallow bays and tidal streams. The only way to get there is by
boat. |
The
cranes had medical exams upon arrival. Doctors first put hoods
over the crane's heads and worked in silence so the birds would
not see human faces or hear human voices.**
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| The
cranes got bands and three cranes were fitted with PTTs (satellite
tracking devices), but one of those cranes was killed by a bobcat
about a week after. *** |
The
open-topped pen is made of 10-foot high fencing with about 2 ft.
buried so alligators and other predators won't dig under the fence.
It measures 350 ft. X 150 ft. |
Workers built a blind where crane caretakers wearing costumes could
hide and watch. A solar powered video monitoring system helps keep
an eye on the flock. |
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| A
feeding station inside the pen provides fresh food and water.
There's a large pond in the pen. A costumed dummy stands in the
pond to give the birds a familiar sight and to encourage them
to roost in the pond at night.*** |
"Pecking
order" is important in crane flocks, and sometimes they get
into little squabbles. But most of the time they get along fine.
Learn
more abut pecking order in cranes, and play our simulation game
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A monitoring team of two made the long airboat ride to the crane's
island each day. They ensured the safety of the birds by setting
live traps for bobcats, but two cranes were still lost to bobcats.
They kept notes on the cranes' behaviors. |
Activities
*
The migration was officially over on December 3, 2001, but the cranes
stayed in a temporary holding pen on the mainland near the Chassahowitzka
Refuge until December 5. Then the ultralight led them on a short flight
to their remote island home at Chassahowtizka National Wildlife Refuge
and dropped them off for their first winter.
Try
This! Continue the Timeline
- To learn
all about the first human-led migration of an endangered species,
see ourJourney South
Reintroduction and Migration Highlights. This series of short reports
offer everything you need to start -- and continue with current events
-- a timeline of events for the first year of life for the new Eastern
flock.
**To
keep them as wild as possible and not dependent on humans, the cranes
were raised by very strict rules. You can read more about therules, or protocol,
by which the cranes were raised. The same rules will apply to all
the chicks hatched and raised to join the new Eastern Flock, until the
cranes themselves can begin laying eggs, hatching chicks, and teaching
their young the ways of wild cranes.
Try
This! Discussion or Journaling Question
- Do you think this first flock can be called truly
wild? Explain your answer. Do you that will change?
***
Wild cranes roost (stand on one leg while sleeping) in water at night
so they can hear predators that might splash into the water to attack,
but the new flock was having some trouble choosing safe roosting spots.
Their pen is in a salt marsh and encloses part of a pond where experts
hoped the birds would roost in safety. Because of low tides, the pool's
water levels were very low many nights, and handlers suspected that
the birds chose roost areas outside the pen where thry found more appropriate
water levels. Some nights, though, the tide brought such high water
levels (about 30 inches) that the cranes would get wet feathers if they
roosted there. Caretakers worked out a way to encourage the birds to
roost inside their pen. Read more about it, and also about bobcat predation
on the cranes, here.
Try
This! Discussion or Journaling Question
- Before
you read what the caretakers tried, how would YOU try to solve the
problem?
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