Journey North Whooping Cranes

Photo: Operation Migration

Meet the New 2004 Whooping Crane Chicks!
Hatch-year 2004 of the Eastern Flock

Crane # 419

Date Hatched

May 29 , 2004

Gender

Female

Date Arrived in Wisconsin

July 15, 2004

Permanent Leg Bands
R/W/G (PTT)

[Changed to R/W/G in March 2009.]

W/G

Read about the naming system, birth place in Maryland, release site in Wisconsin, over-wintering site in Florida and leg-band codes.

Personality and History

Migration Training: Introduced to the trike at 9 days. Had 8 hrs & 10 min. aircraft conditioning while at Patuxent WRC. The "2 little girls," 419 and 420, got airborne for their first short flight August 19. After all cohorts were blended on Sep. 20, she showed that she hates #403 by taking every opportunity to go over and give him a beak jab. By the end of September the "2 little girls" could fly 36 minutes at 500 feet altitude! She has real ATTITUDE for her small size, and is "the little girl you don't wanna mess with." Only the biggest males stand up to her, and she is probably in the top 3 or 5 birds in the social order! Stubborn,independent. This little gal is a daughter of Gee Whiz!

History:
First Migration South:Dropped out and crated to the next stop on days 15 and 22. But the two little girls did well; when they tired and dropped back, another ultralight swooped in to fly with them. They often had their own plane and got help from the currents off the ultralight's wing. A very good bird, along with 414 and 420.

Spring 2005: Left on first journey north with the group of 11 on 25 March, 2005 after 103 days on wintering grounds. After flying through Georgia and veering as far east as South Carolina, the flock corrected their course, stopping in Indiana before reaching Wisconsin. Still together, the group of 11 entered Wisconsin the evening of April 4. On April 6 the group of 11 separated. Chick #419 stayed with 2, 3, 15, 16, 17 and 20 in Dane County, WI and they all finished their migration to Necedah NWR on May 3. During the summer she was often with sandhill cranes and #420 in farmlands of Columbia County, WI. and a marsh with sandhill cranes in Marquette County, WI.

Fall 2005: Left Wisconsin on its first unaided fall migration on November 9, together with #420. They made it to Indiana the first day. They reached Madison County, Florida on Nov. 15--the FIRST of their cohort to reach Florida without the ultralight to lead them! They stayed the winter in Madison County, FL.

Spring 2006: Began migration with #420 on March 28. PTT readings for that night were from Butts County, Georgia and on March 29 in Tennessee. By March 31, they had arrived at the same spot where #319 and #520 were located, and stayed at least through April 2. The two completed migration to Central Wisconsin on April 8. By April 10 the two birds had separated, and #419 was found with sandhills on a cranberry wetland in Wood County, WI.

Fall 2006: Left on migration with #212 on Nov. 30. The two were not seen again until February 19, 2007 when they were seen on Okefenokee NWR in Georgia during an aerial survey. They were not with sandhills.

Spring 2007: Seen February 19 on Okefenokee NWR in Georgia with #212 during an aerial survey. A pair observed in Wood County, Wisconsin on March 19 may be this pair (awaiting confirmation). Yes, they made it back!

#419 and #212 on winter territory
Photo Eva Szyszkoski

Fall 2007: Pair #419 and #212 left on migration November 22, 2007. Found on Hiwassee WR in Meigs County, Tennessee, on December 1. Continued migration to Okefenokee NWR, Georgia, on December 3. Ended up later in Pasco County, FL.

Spring 2008: Began migration with mate #212 from Pasco County, Florida, on March 6. On April 24 Sara Zimorski sent exciting news: "Both of these birds have non-functional transmitters but the nest location is between their two main use/territory areas, I detected no signals in the area, and there are really no other possible birds this could be. This was a particular good and important find because we hadn’t yet confirmed these two back in Wisconsin, even though we suspected they were back and likely nesting." Sara took this photo from the plane. See the crane sitting on the nest?

Photo Sara Zimorski, ICF

May 5, 2008 nest check
Photo Richard Urbanek

The nest of 212 and 419 in Wood County failed in early May. A nest check found one undeveloped egg that was infertile. The pair had no further nesting activity this summer.

Fall 2008: Pair #419 and #212 cannot be tracked but were found on their previous wintering territory in Pasco County, Florida, on January 9. Trackers tried to capture the pair to replace their transmitters on February 20 and and again on March 4, but failed both times to catch these birds.

Spring 2009: Pair #419 and #212 departed on migration on March 4 when trackers were trying to capture them to replace their radio transmitters. However, they were found at the Chassahowiztka pen site that night and finally captured for transmitter replacements on the following morning. They resumed migration from the pen site on March 6. The pair was detected in northbound flight over Tennessee on March 8 and Kentucky on March 9. They were on course toward a favorite stopover in Greene County, Indiana, where they spent March 13 -March 21. They completed migration to Wisconsin by the end of March. The pair was found April 9 on a nest, incubating! The nest failed when black flies tormented the parents off the nest, but by May 21 the pair was re-nesting about 50 meters west of their previous failed nest. Here's what happened:

On June 12 they hatched a chick at their nest site in Wood County, Wisconsin! The chick that hatched was from a captive produced egg from ICF. The pair’s own eggs were both infertile. ICF's Sara Zimorski and Eva Szyszkoski checked the pair’s eggs July 11 to see if they were fertile. When it was discovered that neither egg would hatch, Sara and Eva switched the pair’s two eggs for one fertile egg from ICF. That egg is now chick W1-09! (W is for "wild," 1 is hatch order and 09 is the hatch year).The pair is extremely attentive to their new chick and appear to be naturals at parenting, reports ICF's Joan Garland.

Photo Jessica Thompson, ICF

Parents #212 and #419 with their chick on June 24. This is the first chick for this pair, and only the second time Whooping cranes have hatched in the wild in this reintroduction project. Unfortunately, the chick disappeared between July 12 and 15. Everyone was very sad that the summer of 2009 did not produce any surviving wild chicks.

Fall 2009: She and her mate #212 began migration on November 15, a day with clear skies and north winds to help push them south. Ten whoopers began migration the same day. They were reported in Greene County, Indiana, on November 20, where they remained at least until the end of November. The pair rreturned for the winter on their old territory in Pasco County, Florida.

Last updated: 1/28/10