Photo: Operation Migration Meet the New 2005 Whooping Crane Chicks! Hatch-year 2005 of the Eastern Flock Crane # 509 Date Hatched May 10 , 2005 Gender Male Date Arrived in Wisconsin July 6, 2005 Weight Aug. 31 Permanent Band Colors Left Leg: G/W radio USFWS bands 6.2 Kg   Right Leg: R/W/R 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: Learned quickly how to eat food and drink water with the puppet's example. #509 and 510 have been training and walking buddies ever since they were tiny chicks. On June 3 they both started their circle pen training. Chick #509 shipped to Wisconsin on July 6 with #510 and all the rest of Cohort 2. On the first day of training after arrival at Necedah NWR, #509 needed extra coaxing to come out of the pen. Trainer Robert Doyle fed #509 smelt (smelly little fish) to get him to follow the trike along the grass training strip. Then, after it finally rained and filled the pond, almost nothing would get #509 out of the wet part of the chicks' pen. Arm flapping, yummy treats, battery-powered vocalizers--all these tricks had to be used to coax #509 to come out of the wet pent for training. Sometimes other birds, especially his buddy #510, followed his bad example. By July 30, #509 was coming out of the wet pen and onto the runway without any hassles. But his new bad-habit-of-the-week was to fly off the runway and into the non-enclosed marsh area to forage (probe for food). One day #509 and #508 (the group's two best flyers at this time) took off and easily cleared the short fence bordering the runway. They landed about 50 yards away in a fun, marshy area, ignoring the costumed crane handlers AND the ultralight planes (trikes). Shortly after, chicks #510, #511, and #512 flew off to join the wayward chicks in the marsh! As trainer John Thomton says, #509 has always been a very independent bird. "He's a little bit of an outsider in the group, but whenever anyone challenges him, he's quick to put the challenger in his place. He's also good at ignoring the handlers when he wants. I'm always wondering what 509 will do tomorrow!" Things went well until August 28, when Cohort 2 moved in with Cohort 3 chicks at the east site. When the Cohort 2 birds (the better flyers) were let out to fly with the ultralight, #509 spent more time on the grass runway than following the ultralight. On September 9, Cohort 2 had a great day. All 8 birds took off from the runway on the first try and never looked back. They flew for about 15 minutes, and stayed with the pilot for the entire flight! What a relief after several days of dropping out and missing flying time, most likely from the stress of the health exams. This is an independent bird, but much improved from a month ago. He flies well, but can be slow to return to the pen after training. He can be aggressive, and is mid-level in dominance. History First Migration South: Chick #509 left Wisconsin for his first migration on October 14th, 2005. Read day-by-day news about the flock's migration and you'll see that #509 must have been a real trooper because he never made his own headlines. He landed safely with the flock at the temporary holding site at Halpata Preserve in Marion County, FL on December 13. The cranes will be moved to their final release pen in mid-January after all the older cranes have dispersed from the pen site. On January 10, Crane #509 made it to the final pen site at Chassahowitzka NWR on day 2 of the pilots' attempts to move the flock. The birds slowly became familiar with the idea of again following the ultralight after a month's vacation. Richard and Brooke managed to get #509 and 5 other birds far enough from the pen that they fell into line and followed the final 26 miles. HOME for the winter! Spring 2006: Began first spring migration from the "Chass" pen site March 28 with all flock members except 520. This flock of 18 split at roost time on March 28, and fourteen juveniles (501, 502, 503, 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 512, 514, 519, 523, and 524) stayed together. They probably roosted near the confluence of Turner, Crisp and Wilcox Counties in Georgia. They didn't move the next day. On March 30 they resumed migration and roosted in Hamilton County, TN. The next roosting place was March 31 in Spence County, KY; April 1 in Jefferson County, IN; April 2 and 3 in DuPage County, IL; April 4 in McHenry County, IL. (past Chicago). They are determined to get back to Wisconsin! They flew two days in rain, and in stong headwinds on April 4. On April 5 they resumed migration, stopping in Sauk County, WI—just short of Necedah NWR! Tracker Richard Urbanek was monitoring them the morning of April 6 when they took off. They completed spring migration as they passed the SW corner of Necedah NWR just after noon. (They kept going! They landed, foraged, and roosted that night in nearby Trempealeau County, WI.) He wandered a lot during the summer and was reportedwith sandhills in Barron County, on September 5 after not being seen anywhere since June 18 in Fayette County, Iowa.. Fall 2006: He was seen in Clark County, WI on 22 October. It's uncertain when he left Wisconsin, but #509 was last reported migrating with six Sandhill cranes in Georgia on Oct 28. Arrived in Lake County, Florida on Nov. 22, HOME. Spring 2007: Left Lake County, Florida between April 21 and April 29 and arrived home in Wisconsin on May 4! He summered on Pool 13 at Necedah NWR last year. Then on October 24 he moved to Rock County WI with #505 and 512. Fall 2007: Left Rock County, Wisconsin on migration on November 23, separate from the other two birds he'd been with. Arrived on Hiwassee WR in Tennessee by November 24. Departed Hiwassee sometime between November 25 and 28. Last recorded with wintering sandhills in Lake County, Florida, on Jan. 9, 2008. Spring 2008: Arrived back in Wisconsin April 15! Last updated: 4/17/08 Back to "Meet the Flock 2005" Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).