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Meet
the New 2007 Whooping Crane Chicks! Hatch-year 2007 of the Eastern Flock |
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Crane
# 716 |
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| Date Hatched |
May 16 , 2007 |
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| Gender |
Female |
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| Egg Source: USGS Patuxent WRC |
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Permanent Leg Bands Weight
09/05/07: |
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Personality and History
Migration Training: In her first few weeks of life, #716 was the dominant one of her group (715, 717, and 718). She was quite aggressive at times. She came to Wisconsin for flight school on July 3 in cohort 2 (the 5 middle chicks in age). When the wing was attached to the ultralight for the first time for cohort 2, chick #716 (with pal #721) was brave and curious, biting at the struts and cords that support the wing. They followed well as Brooke taxied around with the wing on the trike for the first time. By July 24 these two females were catching a bit of air under their wings as they strongly flapped/ran behind the trike during training. By July 31, she could fly the length of the runway with ease! She seemed thrilled to be flying, and eager to fly with the trike. Sometimes she and her pal #717 like to fly over to land in the marsh instead of by the trike. Then they need to be coaxed back to the pen. She thinks for herself. She made steady progress and gained strength and endurance.
History
First Migration South: Chick #716 left Wisconsin for his first migration
on October 13, 2007. He flew the whole first leg of the journey and landed
safely
at Stopover #1! Find day-by-day
news about the flock's migration and read more about #716 below.
Oct. 25, Day 13: About 5 miles from the site, #716 began to drop from Richard’s trike and neither Richard nor Chris could afford to give up the altitude to help this bird out. Top cover pilots Don and Paula kept an eye on 716 and radioed GPS coordinates to Charlie. He found her, boxed her up and drove her to the new stopover site.
Megan said #716 doesn't get noticed for bad behavior or too much at all. "She is one that I've noticed coming up to me out of curiosity more often than most others, but she doesn't show much aggression. At Necedah she'd follow me around in the pen and was always pretty nice to me."
Jan. 28, 2008: Migration complete!
Spring 2008, First Journey North: Began migration from Florida March 26 in a group of five (716, 717, 721, 724, and 726). They ended up in Calhoun County, Georgia for the night, about 220 miles north of their starting location. The next day, after a fog rolled through, the cranes resumed migration to Coffee County, Tennessee. On March 31, these five birds left Coffee County and were in Daviess County, Indiana that evening. They continued migration to Jefferson County, Wisconsin on April 16. On April 19 at 11:30 they arrived in the vicinity of Necedah NWR and proceeded to circle over portions of Juneau, Adams, Monroe, and Wood Counties before they landed on farmland along the Yellow River. Migration complete! (They didn't stay on Necedah NWR until April 21.)
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| Fighting with a sandhill crane (far left) in Jefferson County, WI | April 19: HOME! Photos Eva Szyszkoski, ICF |
Fall 2008: Left Wisconsin on Nov. 20 in a large group. Not all of them stayed together, but on Nov. 24, crane #716 was in a group of eight (including #10-08, who was removed from the ultalight cohort) that reached the border of southern Illinois and southern Indiana. The group stayed together in Gibson County, Indiana until Dec. 21, when they moved to White County, Tennessee. On Dec. 22 he resumed migration from White County, TN and arrived in Cherokee County, Alabama with #511, 512, 724, DAR 46-07 and DAR 37-08. She was confirmed at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Alachua County, Florida, on January 1, 2009! With her were first-timers #10-08 and DAR 37-08 and #511, 512, and 724. They completed migration sometime December 28 - 31.
Spring 2009: Began migration from Alachua County, Florida on March 10 (with 511 and 724). Migration stops were March 12 at Cherokee County, AL; March 16 at Coffee County, Tennessee; March 18-20 at Knox County, Indiana; March 21 at DeKalb County, Illinois. The birds apparently completed migration to Necedah NWR on 22 March. She began closely associating with male #216 by March 27 and the two were observed unison calling on that day. They spent all summer together in the core area.
Last updated: 9/26/09
Back to "Meet the Flock 2007"
Journey North is pleased to feature this educational
adventure made possible by the Whooping
Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).