Photo: John Cullum	Meet the 2008 DAR Whooping Crane Chicks!
	Crane DAR #32-08
	Date Hatched	June 8 , 2008
	Gender	Female
		Egg Source:
	Permanent Leg Bands	Left Leg Right Leg  R/W    PTT G/W
	Read more about the raising and naming of the DAR chicks. *Scroll to bottom for most recent history.*

Personality and History

Oldest, biggest female in the 2008 DAR group. Very friendly towards other chicks and loves the crane costume. As of Aug. 22, she is close to flying and practices often. She is an independent forager. She sometimes temporarily disappears while off looking for food, but always is quick to catch up with the group.

She was released on Necedah NWR with #31-08 on October 18th. On October 22 these two were joined northern end of the refuge by flockmates DAR #35-08, 36-08 and 38-08. These five DAR chicks remained together on the northern end of the refuge. Signals from the birds’ radio transmitters sometimes indicate that adult Whooping cranes may be interacting with these chicks, but their remote location means no one usually sees this.

Fall weather in Wisconsin was unusually warm. On November 1, ICF Tracking Interns Eva Szyszkoski and Binga Elger checked on the five DAR cranes located on a remote part of the Necedah NWR. The area is quite difficult to get to. Binga took this photo of the DAR cranes and adult whooping crane #401. Many sandhill cranes were also with the whooping cranes, but the sandhills flushed when the costumed biologists entered the scene. Photo Binga Elger, ICF

Fall 2008 — First Journey South as a DAR Crane: On November 17 DAR chick #32-08 began migration with experienced adult #216 and DAR flockmates 31-08, 36-08, and 38-08. That night the small group roosted near Ogle County, Illinois! They were still in northern Illinois as of Dec. 1. They were still in northern Illinois as of Dec. 1. On Dec. 5 they arrived in Lawrence County, Tennessee.

Spring 2009: Trackers think #32-08 left on migration with this wintering group of five cranes, since #31-08 began migration north from Lawrence County, TN on March 17th or 18th and PTT data indicated that he (and probably the others) stopped in Gallatin County, IL on March 18th and Rock County, IL on March 20th. The group likely reached home on the night of March 22, as all were confirmed at Necedah on March 23! Sad news came just days later. DAR #32-08 was found dead by a local resident near East Bristol in Columbia County, Wisconsin, at 4:45 pm on April 3, 2009. She had last been seen alive with three other DAR birds (DAR 31-08, 36-08, and 38-08) near the same location at just a few hours earlier. The carcass was in the ditch about 10 feet from the edge of a road and about 50 feet from a power distribution line on the other side of the road. An exam will be done to determine cause of death.

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