Habitat conditions were very poor in the winter of 2008-09. Blue crabs were scarce on the winter feeding grounds. Fresh drinking water was hard to find. Scarbaby grew thin. His feathers lost their shine. He did not migrate north in spring 2009.

It was a very tough summer at Aransas during the drought, but Scarbaby survived. One other crane stayed the 2009 summer at Aransas too. The two did not stay together much of the time even though they were in the same general part of the refuge. At one point the cranes went flightless when they molted. Re-growing flight feathers takes up to six weeks after molting. The cranes had to walk over a half mile to the uplands to find water to drink from a small remaining mud hole. They had to dodge hungry alligators.

Was the other crane Scarbaby's mate that also failed to migrate? Or did his mate return to the flock's summer home in Canada? We know how to recognize Scarbaby—but not his mate. He was at Aransas with a crane in winter 2009-2010. Maybe Scarbaby and his mate BOTH spent the summer of 2009 at Aransas. In the winter of 2010-2011, tour boat captain Tommy Moore saw Scarbaby, but no chick.

You can see in the picture how disheveled the plumage looks, and how the feathers (which are snow white) have a touch of gray on them. Photo USFWS