Meet the Class of 2013 Whooping Cranes
Hatch-year 2013 of the Eastern Flock
Back to Meet the Cranes 2013

Personality and Training: How did he get the girls' name of Maude? ICF staff used the theme of TV sitcoms or sitcom characters when they named the new chicks. (A change in the numbering system is under discussion.) Maude is named after the outspoken protagonist of the old TV show "Maude," even though he is actually a male! Maude is excellent at catching grasshoppers.

Maude and the other DAR chicks were costume reared and then transported to Horicon Wildlfe Refuge in early September. The chicks will now spend more time out of a pen and less time with the costume. They will be officially released probably at the end of October to mingle with other wild Whooping cranes and Sandhill cranes. If all goes as planned, the youngsters will follow the older cranes to learn the flock's southward migration route.

The DAR chicks got their legbands and colors on Sept 27. They were released at Horicon NWR on Oct 24, 2013, and we are sad to learn that a predator killed Maude on the night of November 12.