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Vocalizer plays contact call |
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The trike pilot pushes these buttons to call the birds with recordings. |
It may seem strange, but colt is another name for a crane chick. And trike is another name for ultralight plane. How do the pilots get the colts to follow the trike? They talk to the cranes in "crane-glish." All it takes are some recorded calls from real adult cranes. The trainers have small units called vocalizers they can hold in their hands to use with the puppet. The vocalizers play digital recordings of the crane calls. The trikes are specially equipped with a speaker and push-button vocalizer so the pilots can play the recordings to say "Come, follow me!" Like humans, cranes use their voices many ways to say many things. Training goes much better when the pilots and handlers can "talk to" the cranes in crane language. The call most used with chicks is called the contact call (brood call).
The very first ultralight-led colts in 2001 had one contact call, but a the call from a different adult is being used for the HY 2002 birds. Click here to listen to the new call. How would you describe it?
These valuable and helpful crane calls were recorded by Dr. Bernhard Wessling, who discovered that individual whooping cranes can be identified through their unique voiceprints.
Try This! Journaling Question
- Why do you think the contact or brood call was changed for this year's chicks?
(Remember to add this to your journal list of differences between the HY2001 and
HY 2002 migrations!)
- Find out more about Dr. Bernhard Wessling's exciting research and the role he
plays in this project. Why are crane voiceprints a better way than banding for keeping
track of endangered whooping cranes?
1. Operation Migration: Putting Crane Calls to Work
2. Who's Calling? Using Voiceprints to Identify Individual Cranes
Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by
the Whooping
Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).
Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
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