Journey North Whooping Cranes

Photo: Operation Migration

Meet the New 2004 Whooping Crane Chicks!
Hatch-year 2004 of the Eastern Flock

Crane # 414

Date Hatched

May 14 , 2004

Gender

Male

Date Arrived in Wisconsin

June 30, 2004

Permanent Leg Bands
R/W/R

W/G

Read about the naming system, birth place in Maryland, release site in Wisconsin, over-wintering site in Florida and leg-band codes.

Personality and History

Migration Training: Introduced to the trike at 9 days of age. Received 7 hrs & 37 min. of aircraft conditioning while at Patuxent WRC. He's had an odd gait from the beginning, and limps when speeding, but tries hard to keep up. Stubborn! He was a problem flyer who kept turning back or dropping out during training. Pilots left him all alone for 2 nights after his cohort 2 moved to cohort 3's site. After that, he willingly followed the ultralight over to join his flock mates. On Sept. 15, he flew a training session with the "two little girls" (#419 & 420). He liked flying with them so much that he stopped dropping out! Kind of an underdog. Dropped out and crated to the next stopover on day 15, along with 419 and 420.

History:
First Migration South: A very good bird, along with 419 and 420.

Spring 2005: Left on first journey north with the group of 11 on 25 March, 2005 after 103 days on wintering grounds. After flying through Georgia and veering as far east as South Carolina, the flock corrected their course, stopping in Indiana before reaching Wisconsin. Still together, the group of 11 entered Wisconsin the evening of April 4. On April 6 the group of 11 split. Chick #408 stayed with 401, 407 and 408. They returned to their previous roost in Fond du Lac County, WI and were gone when the site was checked on April 7. They were next seen April 14 during an aerial search in Winnebago County, Illinois, in a harvested cornfield 1 mile south of the Wisconsin border. They roosted at this location and foraged in cornfields on both sides of the Illinois-Wisconsin state line until 25 April when they proceeded northward to roost in Adams County, WI---27 miles from Necedah NWR.

On April 27 they completed migration to Necedah NWR, then flew to nearby Yellow River Cranberry, just east of the Refuge. On May 10 the remains of yearling #414 were found below the south reservoir of Yellow River Cranberry, Juneau County. He had apparently been roosting with #401, #407 and #408 in a small pool surrounded by vegetative cover on the night of May 2. He is believed to have been killed by a large predator there during that night.