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Meet
the 2009 Whooping Crane Chicks!
Hatch-year 2009 of the Eastern Flock |
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Crane # 918 |
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Date Hatched |
May 25, 2009 |
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Gender |
Male |
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Egg Source |
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Permanent (Attached after reaching Florida)
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*Juvenile
band: Brown |
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Personality,
Early Training
Notes from
the captive breeding "hatchery" at Patuxent WRC
in Maryland:
When 918 looks up and sees a butterfly flitting overhead, he takes off at full run trying to catch the butterfly. He jumps up and tries to grab it just as the butterfly darts off.
On May 30 Bev took 918 out to the trike for the first time just to let him wander around it and under it: "We turned the vocalizer on, trying to give him the whole sensory experience. We fed him meal worms and let him get comfortable just seeing the trike. On June 1 Brooke started the engine for the little guy. After the initial engine start, lots of meal worms, and even some revving of the engine, we got him to follow for two circuits. I like to keep the first training session short. This way, we leave the circle pen with the chick happily trilling and actually looking for more meal worms." Off to a great start!
As the days passed, 918 was a slow learner about not messing with 914, the "queen" of his group! Luckily he was also smart enough to know when to back down. Bev calls 918 (and 919) little stinkers!
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July
training in Wisconsin
Photo Operation Migration |
Notes
of Flight School in Wisconsin:
He was flown to Wisconsin with Cohort #2 chicks on July 2. Normally
the chicks stand up in their crates for the whole flight (about 5 hours)
but during the flight, 918 was sitting on his hocks. Was he injured?
Dr. Barry Hartup wanted
to make sure #918 was okay before taking the one-hour van ride
to Necedah. He found no sign of injury.
The bird just
didn't feel like standing! Project leader Joe Duff
met the plane and drove the van with the chicks in their crates from
the airport to Necedah National
Wildlife Refuge. Joe said, "We had barely started our drive when
918 sat down again. As long as
there is no injury it is likely a safer way to ride except for the possibility
of overheating. We prevented that by cranking up the A/C to max." Chick
918 and all the others settled into their new pen just fine!
Safely in his new home, it didn't take long for 918 to prove that he loved the water of the marsh. Chris said, "918 is going to be a challenge as he has a history of exploring the marsh in search of water."
July 10 was Bev's first day to taxi the trike during flight school. She said, "918 is our little water rat, and just as he does every morning, he wandered into the marsh. This morning, though, he didn’t go far, and after leaving him for one pass with the other chicks, he came out as soon as we taxied back to the spot where he stood."
By the end of July the cohort #2 birds were all flying in ground effect, a few feet off the grassy strip, and close to gaining good altitude. However, on many days #918 liked to lollygag and hang back inside the pen instead of rushing out to training. He LOVES the marsh and tries to spend the entire training session running along the fence that separates it from the runway. One day near the end of July, he and the other 8 chicks in Cohort 2 followed the ultralight well on a lap down the runway. But on the return lap, naughty 918 once again escaped to the swamp and two chicks went with him. Meeting up with the swamp monster (which Richard deployed from the trike by yanking on a string attached to a broom out in the swamp) scared the other two back onto the grass runway — but NOT 918! An adult pair of whoopers took charge of 918 and Richard and Erin had their hands full. Richard said: "At long last, after much jump-raking and many back-and-forth threats we managed to get 918 away from the adults and back into the pen. With boots full of water I flew back to the hangar pondering life without the superhero/monster tarp and — maybe without 918!"
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Hear
Bev talking about 918 with Mark Chenoweth of Whoopers Happening
on August 12. |
This is a very independent group of birds, but none more than 918. But he seems to be a favorite of the two adult Whoopers (#213 and #218) who who lost their baby chick this summer and then claimed this training site as their territory. The team discussed releasing #918 to go join the wild adults. Would they raise 918 and teach him the migration route? The team decided to keep 918 with his cohort because of all the training already invested. They hoped he will become a better follower of the ultralight plane. Sure enough, he did! Hear crane handler Bev on this brief audio clip: >>
Later, 918’s attitude/attentiveness to the adults cooled off. Now that he’s flying, he visits the marsh much less, and he excitedly follows the training trike along with his cohort mates. Still, #918 is a bird who likes to do his own thing — which means hanging out in the marsh or staying in the wet pen.
Oct. 11: The team hoped to combine training with a flight to a remote part of the refuge where a travel pen was set up. The birds would be closer to their first migration stopover. But several wayward birds had other plans! Male 918 was one of them. He had flown back to his familiar pen all on his own, so he was put inside the pen along with the other 10 birds who had also come back or didn't want to leave. The other 9 flockmates were at the travel pen at the farther site on the refuge. What a day!
| First Migration South: Chick #918 (and 14 others!) turned back to Necedah NWR when the Class of 2009 left on their first migration on October 16, 2009. They all had to try again the next day to follow the ultralights to the migration's first stopover site, where five flockmates landed on Day 1. Find day-by-day news about the flock's migration and read more about #918 below. | ||
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Oct. 27: Once again, 918 was a good follower to Stopover #2 with no problems! He was one of only 7 to do so. This photo was captured from the CraneCam soon after arrival of the seven "leaders." Nov. 1: Hooray! 918 (and ALL the others!) flew the distance to Stopover #3. No crates needed! |
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Last updated: 11/02/09
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