Photo: Operation Migration Meet the New 2007 Whooping Crane Chicks! Hatch-year 2007 of the Eastern Flock Crane # 717 Date Hatched May 16 , 2007 Gender Female Egg Source: Necedah Eastern Migratory Flock (wild) Permanent Leg Bands Weight 09/05/07: 5.0 kilograms Left Leg Right Leg R/G W/G PTT Read about the naming system, hatch place in Maryland, release site in Wisconsin, over-wintering site in Florida, and leg-band codes. Personality and History Migration Training: Chick #717 originated from a wild egg — an egg that was rescued after adult pair #213 and #218 abandoned their nest earlier this spring. In her first few weeks of life, #717 was a scared little chick. She got braver as she got older. In fact, she was pretty aggressive towards the others in cohort 2 since the time the team first started socializing them as a whole group until migration time. She came to Wisconsin on July 3 in cohort 2, the group of 5 chicks between the oldest and the youngest. Megan said, "It was funny; she was always going after the other birds, but then she'd cry to the handlers. Just a big bully." By July 31, she could fly the length of the runway with ease! She was so happy to be flying that she often ran out to greet the trike when it taxied up for training session. Sometimes she and her pal #716 liked to fly over to land in the marsh instead of next to the trike. They had to be coaxed back to the pen. Her white feathers are whiter than all the rest of the chicks. (This was also true last year of the chick hatched from a wild egg.) Nathan likes chick 717! She's grown much braver than when she was tiny. On September 12 the two newly-combined cohorts were not getting along. Chick #717 was especially aggressive. She attacked the younger chicks and would have knocked one over but the pilots rushed in to give the fighters "time out" in separate pens! "She's calmed down a lot and isn't really aggressive anymore to other birds or the handlers. When she first got her new leg band prior to migration, it was light blue with white clouds on it. It was the only special one that wasn't plain colored. The colors faded soon after though, so now it's light blue mixed with red and white showing from underneath."   History First Migration South: Chick #717 left Wisconsin for his first migration on October 13th, 2007. She 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 #717 below. Crane #717 never gives anybody any problems! She's a strong flying-bird, a good follower, and a flock mate who minds her own business in the class of 2007. As of Day 81, she's made every flight successfully without ever dropping out, but she proved she had a mind of her own: Jan. 12, Day 81: On this fly day, 717 remained in the pen, refusing to follow the other 16 birds as they took flight behind lead pilot Brooke. Bev finally coaxed 717 out, but she flew to a nearby cow pond and still wouldn't take flight. Once again Bev tried coax the the wayward bird out, which meant Bev sank up to her waist in muddy water. Finally 717 took wing behind Richard's trike and flew with Richard all the way to the next stopover in Marion County, Georgia. Do you wonder what she was thinking? Jan. 23, Day 92: Today was one of the worst struggles of the whole migration, and 717 dropped out early near the pensite. He was safely recovered and crated on a day when many of the birds had other plans after 7 days on the ground at the previous stop. Jan. 28, 2008: Migration complete! Click photo to enlarge and read more Photo Eva Szyszkoski Spring 2008 and First Unassisted Migration North: Before the birds were ready to migrate from Florida, #717 had a change in leg bands. She now wears a PTT (White/Green) instead of the 3-band color code on the right leg. The PTT was removed from #735, her flock mate that will not be able to fly north on migration. 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.) Fighting with a sandhill crane (far left) in Jefferson County, WI April 19: HOME! Photos Eva Szyszkoski, ICF     Last updated: 4/22/08 Back to "Meet the Flock 2007"   Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).