Photo: Marianne Wellington	Meet the 2009 DAR Whooping Crane Chicks!
	Crane DAR #38-09
	Date Hatched	June 17 , 2009
	Gender	Male
	Pre-Migr. Weight: 5.3 Kg	Egg Source: USGS Patuxent WRC
	Permanent Leg Bands	Left Leg W/R Right Leg G/R/W
	Read more about the raising and naming of the DAR chicks. *Scroll to bottom for most recent history.*

Personality
DAR 38-08 seemed to be needier than the other chicks in his first weeks after hatching at ICF. He cried if he was left in the run and not able to be with "the costume" in the yard. Unfortunately, he developed a mild health issue that needed to be treated twice a day. Each time he was picked up for treatment, the chick would struggle and stress call. If he was in the yard, he calmed down and stayed near the costume, appearing to be quite content. He and 36-09 are sharing the same run now that they are at Necedah NWR. He is banded red on the right leg.

He was doing very well and close to flying by the end of August.

October weather brought sun, wind, rain and snow. The chicks seemed to enjoy testing their wings in the winds. Several days they birds made flights where they were almost out of view flying both to the north and south of their pen site. A couple of times they were out of view for a period of time, and someof the flew over to visit the ultralight chicks in their pen! We couldn't tell which chicks did that because they didn't get banded until Oct. 13. They are building up their flight strength in these final days or weeks before migration.

The nine DAR cranes were released on the evening of October 24 on the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Signals from the radio transmitters on the birds' leg bands will help biologists from ICF and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as they track movements of the released DAR cranes now and throughout their migration. Stay tuned!

Notes by Marianne Wellington, ICF. Thank you!

Fall 2009: After release at Site 3 on Necedah NWR on October 24 along with DAR 32-09, the two stayed in that area the rest of October. On November 1 they joined with all but two of the other DAR chicks and flew in undirected flight over Monroe and Juneau Counties. Are they getting restless? Will they soon follow the older adult cranes to learn the migration route, as experts hope they will?

Migration History

Back to "Meet the Flock 2009"

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