Personality and Training:

Notes from the captive breeding "hatchery" at Patuxent WRC in Maryland:

Cohort 3 (the youngest birds) has a few meanies — and #824 is one of them. However, these youngest meanies have been associating with other chicks with a little less hatred than the bullies in Cohort 1. She is a good follower but makes a beeline to peck at any other chicks that she sees. We have walked #24 with #20 and #26. One day Bev and Barb tried socializing #824 with #826 for #824's first interaction with another chick in a while. "Overall it went well," said Barb. "When we have an aggressive chick we just try to keep them moving to avoid any stops that may allow for time for meanness. Bev and I were huffing and puffing during and after the walk. Bev said she thought her head would explode we were moving so quickly, but it worked.

Because chick #824 kept being too aggressive, she was given her own pen. Barb said, "That's what you get for being a mean little chick here at Patuxent: the luxury of having your own big pen, your own shed and your own food dish and water. The chicks are probably wondering why they should bother being a sweet little bird when they can have everything to themselves.

"Chick #824 is one of the only two girls in the last group probably tries the hardest to be the most dominant bird. She will stand up very tall when #829 is near and give him the stink eye. He really doesn't want to fight, but she provokes him. She normally ends up turning and walking away."

Notes from "flight school in Wisconsin:
Arrived at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge July 29 in cohort 3, the youngest group in the Class of 2008. The team calls her the waterbug because she prefers the wet pen to the dry pen, and likes spear fishing more than pecking crane chow at the feeder. On Aug. 21 chick #824 was able to experience a short flight in ground effect and on Aug. 24 she became the first bird in cohort 3 to fledge!

She weighed 4.4 kg at her pre-migration health check. Her new leg bands bothered her at first. On Sep. 7 Chris said, "824 has been our best flier of the group and today she hardly even bothered to fly in ground effect." She got over it, though.

After her cohort joined with Cohort 2 and the dominance order changed, she kept trying to show all the others that she was a higher status bird. Despite all her "monster" behavior at Patuxent, Brooke said, "She's a beautiful bird now."

First Migration South: Chick #824 left Necedah NWR for her first migration on October 17, 2008. Find day-by-day news about the flock's migration and read more about #824 below.

November 16, Day 31: #824 drinks from a puddle on this no-fly day. Click on the photo and you can see her temporary legband.

Photo Heather Ray, Operation Migration 

November 21, Day 36: Crane #830 and 12 others flew with Brooke over the Twin Groves wind farm with no problems at 2,000 feet altitude. They flew 114 miles! Today's lead pilot Brooke summed it up: "I don’t know if it was my imagination or what, but I swear our birds looked as proud of themselves as we were of them. They had been in the air 2 hours and 20 minutes, withstood teen temperatures the whole flight, and performed beyond our greatest expectations."

Photo Joe Duff, Operation Migration

November 27, Day 42: She flew all 108 miles without leaving Joe's wing!

January 9, Day 74: After being grounded for 9 days in a row, #824 was one of the seven dropouts when they left Chilton County, Alabama. She was crated and driven for the first time during this migration.

January 23, Day 88: Migration complete for the "Chass 7" of #824, 819, 804, 803, 818, 814 and 827! SEE PHOTOS >>