Journey North Whooping Crane Migration

Photo: Operation Migration

Meet the 2009 Whooping Crane Chicks!
Hatch-year 2009 of the Eastern Flock

Crane # 919

Date Hatched

May 26, 2009

Gender

Male

Egg Source

Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC)

Permanent
Leg Bands

(Attached after reaching Florida)

Left Leg		Right Leg

*Juvenile band: White
(*pre-ship health check at PWRC)

Read about the naming system, hatch place in Maryland, release site in Wisconsin, over-wintering site in Florida, and leg-band codes.

Personality, Early Training
Notes from the captive breeding "hatchery" at Patuxent WRC in Maryland:

For the first days after he hatched, 919 would cry and peep every time the costume/trainer left his pen. Sometimes his peeping was so loud you could hear it from the next room. If the chick heard footsteps in the aisle, the cries got louder. “Don’t leave me alone! Stop in for a visit!” And when the costume/trainer walks in his pen, his happy trills start: “You came back! I’m so happy to see you!"

He had his introduction on June 1 and when Bev turned on the vocalizer, which is much louder than the pocket ones the trainers carry, he walked right up to it looking for “mama.” That's when Bev predicted that 919 wouldn’t even flinch when the trike's engine started the next day. She was right! They got him to follow very shortly after starting the engine. "He seemed to like it so much that he calmly walked around pecking at meal worms and gravel and even trilling occasionally. He will be a great follower in the air," said Bev. "We can always tell the chicks that will be the best followers by how they react that very first time."

Bev calls 919 (and 918) little stinkers, but male 919 quickly learned not to mess with the "queen" (914)! That would change, however, as he continued to grow into one of the two biggest and strongest birds in the flock.

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. Chick 919 and all the others settled into their new pen just fine! The next day they trained with the trike on the grassy runway (with their old pal, Robo-crane). The chicks run, hop and flap but cannot yet fly. However, 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. Handlers soon saw that Cohort 2 birds were the most independent group. It was obvious during training, and at the evening roost check, when the handlers stand in the pen for several moments before the birds lazily wandered over to the dry pen, where the handlers nightly inspect each chick by looking at its eyes, beak, legs, toes and feathers. Male 919 kept getting bigger and stronger that any of the other birds.

After cohorts 2 and 3 were joined, chick #919 and 924 (also a huge bird) often fought for dominance. Both are big, strong males who pecked each other in the face and tried to stomp each other to the ground. Niether wanted to give an inch in their fight for dominance. One September day after training, they had a "time out." The costumes walked them up and down the training strip and tried to break up any tiffs. The two "enemies" did okay that day, but they will be closely watched and kept apart when in the pen with the others at night unitl they decide which one is boss. Even though #919 is older, the handler see signs that he may be backing down slightly to the younger #924, but the battle is still not decided.

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 the birds had other plans! Only six followed the ultralights over and the others, including 919, wouldnt follow and ended up in various places. After Joe landed cranes 919 and 903, the two were crated up and driven in the tracking van to the travel pen where the team wanted the flock tonight. But only nine of the Class of 2009 made it today, and the others finally got rounded up and are back at their old pen for another day.

First Migration South: Chick #919 (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 #919 below.

Oct. 27: Today chick 919 did MUCH better. He was a great follower and flew to Stopover #2 with six flockmates and Richard's ultralight. This photo was captured from the CraneCam soon after arrival of the seven "leaders."

Nov. 1: Hooray! 919 (and ALL the others!) flew the distance to Stopover #3. No crates needed!

Last updated: 11/02/09

Back to "Meet the Flock 2009"