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December 17, 2004: Wrap Up
Flying Free!
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This
2002 crane has a PTT
on the right leg and
radio transmitter on the left leg (red/white).
Use the chart to
identify the crane by the banding code.
Photo Sara Zimorski |
How are the crane-kids doing in their new winter home? They spent their first few days in a top-netted part of the enclosure. This provided a sure food supply. It also kept them captive for the final health check and banding, which took place Dec. 13 and 14. As each crane's turn came, a hood was put over its head. Then the bird got checked over. Blood samples were drawn. Next, the hooded crane was carried over to FWS biologist Dr. Richard Urbanek. He carefully attached the bird's permanent leg bands. Each new band has a radio transmitter with a fresh battery. These units will help trackers find the location of each young crane over the next couple of years—or until the batteries wear out. All the 2004 birds received their permanent leg bands with long-life radio transmitters. Three of the 13 also received Platform Terminal Transmitters (PTTs) on their other leg. The PTTs will help the monitoring team track future movements of those birds through satellite telemetry.
After the worrisome task of the health check, costumed handlers will feed the birds many treats over the next few days. (There's nothing like treats to help win back their trust.) Finally, the top net will be removed. At last the cranes will fly free! They will come and go from their winter pen whenever they want to. They will learn about delicious, nutritious blue crabs. They will learn about tides. And if their instincts are correct, they'll head north in spring to the Wisconsin wetlands.
What's Next?
Our crane-kids
are flying free for the first time in their young lives. Even so,
they will be watched over during their first winter. Sara
Zimorski and Lara Fondow, Mark Nipper and Marianne Wellington make
up the winter monitoring team. Twice each day, morning and evening,
one or more of them will take the 40-minute airboat ride to check
the
cranes. They'll slog through the black muck of the marsh,
trying to keep their rubber boots from being sucked off by the mud.
The cranes
do much better
in the marsh. They have a blast probing for snails and playing with
the black sludge. The monitor's final job on leaving the
enclosure each evening is to activate the electric fence. Any predator
would get zapped with
a good jolt of electricity. This is necessary to protect the priceless
and still-inexperienced birds inside.
As for the pilots and other WCEP partners, they don't want to be flying birds to Florida forever. Four successful ultralight migrations are now behind them. They hope to teach this same migration route to a new generation of captive-bred chicks each fall for a few more years. When they had to leave behind chick #418 in October 2004, they started the next part of the reintroduction effort: seeing if experienced whoopers in the flock will lead any newly-introduced chicks on the migration route to Florida. Eventually they will stop leading birds with the ultralights. They will start depending on the veteran whoopers instead. They hope the older birds will teach the route to new captive-bred chicks released into the flock, just as with #418 this year. They'll kow they're successful when the next generation starts to learn migration from the older birds.
Crane Cousins
Arriving
On December
15 the last three white birds to depart from Wisconsin (#211, 212 and
217) arrived at the winter pen in Florida. These three made the 1200-mile
trek in only 4 1/2 days! Six out of thirty-four white birds (older
ultracranes) have returned to the winter pen site this year. A few
weeks ago cranes #214, 105 and 204 each checked in. They moved on after
finding nobody home and no free food.
Signing
Off Till Spring
In mythology,
Whooping cranes represent long lives, peace and tranquility. That is
our wish for this young flock of ancestors of the Whooping cranes
YOUR descendants will see in the skies over North America's Midwest and
East in years to come. This is Jane Duden saying "over and out" at
the end
of the 2004 Ultralight-led Migration. Please join us again in the spring
to track these youngsters on their first unaided journey north!
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What adaptations help
cranes live in wetlands? Photo Ramirez |
- How are Whooping cranes adapted to live in the salt marshes of Florida? Look at the photos on this page and list as many adaptations as you can. Then check our adaptations lesson for more fascinating details. Edit your journal to include adaptations for the head, neck, body, legs and feet.
Journey North is pleased to feature this educational
adventure made possible by the
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).
Copyright
2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
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