Whooping Crane Naming System Birth Place Summer Home and "Flight School" Winter Homes Leg-band Codes This chick will get permanent leg bands after its first migration. Naming System (*Changed in 2010) Each bird that follows the ultralight on its first migration has a number that becomes its "name" for its whole life. The number tells something about the bird. The bird's hatch-order number is first, with the hatch year at the end. That's why the first chick to hatch in hatch year 2011 is named 1-11, the second is named #2-11, and so on. Gaps in the number system happen when a chick dies, if a chick is kept and raised as a breeding bird due to its valuable genetics, or for other reasons. *The naming system is different for birds led south by ultralight in the Classes of 2001-2009. In those years the first digit stood for the hatch year and the last two digits indicated the hatching order. In 2010 Operation Migration and Journey North switched to follow the WCEP naming style described above, which now applies to every bird in the reintroduced Eastern Flock of Migratory Whooping Cranes. Birth Place Eggs were sent from captive breeding centers (or sometimes rescued from a nest in the wild) to hatch in Maryland at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC). This is a special place where rare birds are bred and raised in captivity. The valuable eggs hatched in the care of experts. They were watched and cared for very closely. Security gate to PWRC captive breeding center Incubating eggs from captive whooping cranes Costumed trainers use crane puppets to help train the new chicks . Summer Home and "Flight School" Before they know how to fly, an airplane carries the little chicks to Wisconsin for "flight school." They live at a wildlife refuge with many acres of wetlands. In 2011, flight school was changed to a new location called White River Marsh State Wildlife Area. (From 2001 until 2010 flight school was at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.) They are released in special pens where they'll be safe as they grow and learn to fly. During training lessons, the chicks learn to follow the ultralight planes. Then they learn to fly behind the tiny airplanes that will teach them where to go when it's time for their very first migration. A private plane flies the chicks from Maryland to Wisconsin. Each chick travels in its own tall box. Chicks are released in a safe pen at "flight school" in Wisconsin. Winter Homes In October these chicks will follow ultralight planes to learn their migration route. They will leave Wisconsin and fly to warmer Florida, with the ultralight planes leading the way. (Chicks hatched in the wild learn the route the natural way: by following their parents.) When they reach Florida, half of the Class of 2009 will land at St. Marks National Widlife Refuge. The other half will keep going until they reach Chassahowitzka NWR. Like other members of the new Eastern flock, the youngest crane-kids will migrate back to Wisconsin each spring, and to Florida each fall. (They may disperse to a wider range as they get older.) The Eastern flock's Two Winter Homes Photo Operation Migration Leg-band Codes Every crane in the new Eastern flock wears leg bands on each leg. Like names for humans, color-coded bands identify each crane for life. Detailed histories are kept on each of these endangered birds, and the banding codes help scientists tell the birds apart. Legbands also hold the battery-powered radio transmitter. A few of the birds will get yet another band and transmitter (PTT) for satellite tracking. For more information, see Tracking Cranes. The permanent bands with color codes are attached to the birds' legs at the health checks after they arrive in Florida and before the top net is removed from the pen for their final release. Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP). Facebook Pinterest Twitter © 1997 – 2019 Journey North. All rights reserved.