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 >>

Spring 2009 First Unaided Migration North: 824 (who is wearing a PTT) and 803 and 827, the three birds that stayed behind when their four cohort mates departed March 24th, left the Chassahowitzka pensite the morning of April 4! Richard Urbank tracked them to a location about 45 miles almost due east of the town of St. Marks, Florida. On April 4, cranes 803, 824, and 827 arrived in Thomas County, GA and resumed migration on April 6 despite a headwind. As of April 15, they were still in Georgia (Mitchell County), presumably together, on flooded, wet land (good!). They resumed migration to Marshall County, Alabama, on April 17 and then to Christian County, Kentucky, on 18 April. They continued migration to Webster County, Kentucky, on April 21; to Effingham County, Illinois, on April 22; Henry County, Illinois, on April 23 and completed migration to Necedah NWR in Wisconsin on April 24! She spent much of the summer with buddies #827, 828, and 830, as well as with #805 and 812 in nearby Dodge County, WI. The group of four (824, 827, 828, 830) left that location and on September 18 were reported near Horicon NWR in Dodge County. By late October/early November they had been joined by 804, 814, and 818 to make a group of seven. These seven were a mix of birds who had spent the winter at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and birds who’d spent the winter at Chassahowitzka NWR. This group remained together in Dodge County through the last check on December 4.

Despite being chased away by the winter monitoring team, the group of adults kept coming back to the pen as though they want to live there with the ten chicks of the Class of 2009!Photo ICF

Fall, 2009: Crane #824 was in the group of seven (see just above) who moved to Dodge County, WI in late fall and stayed through at least December 4. None of these birds were seen or heard from again until the evening of December 12 when #828 turned up by himself at the Hiwassee State Refuge in Tennessee! Where were #824 and the others? The answer came on January 8 when some workers at Chassahowitzka NWR went out to the pen to do some work before the Class of 2009 would arrive, and found the 6 Whooping cranes just outside the pen! The group of 6 consisted of all 5 surviving Chassahowitzka NWR birds from the Class of 2008 and one 2008 bird who had wintered at St. Marks NWR. Trackers expected the group to stay for a day or two and then move elsewhere, which usually happens when birds from the previous year complete their first unassisted migration. They moved, but to a spot only about a mile from the pen site. 824's nonfunctional PTT was replaced on March 7 but it failed and removed on March 19. The color code was changed to free the PTT color code for future use.

Fall 2010: Female #824 (with male #814) remained on Horicon NWR, Dodge County, through at least November 10. Only #814 was detected on the evening of November 25 but he was gone by December 1. Female #824 arrived at Hiwassee WR, Meigs County, Tennessee, between 6 and 10 December 6 and 10 and left this location on December 14. Her signal was next picked up by the Homosassa Springs datalogger on December 21. She was reported on Dec. 27 with cranes #814 and #827 in Citrus County, Florida, where they remained.

Spring 2012: Cranes #824 and #814 (24-08 and 14-08) arrived March 21 at Necedah NWR, migration complete.They were found with a nest on April 6 and then later abandoned it. They re-nested and one egg was seen April 29. By May 10 they were acting like they had a chick (W4-12). When observed again on May 21 the pair was off their nest and appeared to be tending their chick (#W4-12). The chick was no longer alive as of the June 15 nest check.

Fall 2012: She was captured Nov. 1and her transmitter replaced before migration. Her original band colors remain the same.

Spring 2012: Crane #824 (24-08) confirmed confirmed back at Necedah on March 29 and crane#814 (14-08) on March 28. The pair was soon nesting.