Journey North Whooping Crane Migration

Photo: Marianne Wellington

Meet the 2009 DAR Whooping Crane Chicks!

Crane DAR #42-09

Date Hatched

July 3 , 2009

Gender

Female

Pre-Migr. Weight: 3.8 Kg

Egg Source: International Crane Foundation (ICF)

Permanent
Leg Bands

Left Leg
W/R

Right Leg
R/W/G

Read more about the raising and naming of the DAR chicks.
*Scroll to bottom for most recent history.*

Personality
DAR #42-09 was the last DAR chick to hatch. She seemed to be the fastest learner for eating, finding the water bowl and following the costume quickly. All the staff working with 42-09 think she is adorable because she is so small compared to the others and she is intent on following the costume closely. She explores everything, picking up leaves, twigs, rocks. Anything and everything goes in her bill, at least for a short time. At Necedah she is very observant to her surroundings and has taken to eating the blueberries as long as the older Whooping cranes are not nearby to chase her off.

By mid August #42-09, the youngest chick, stayed in the night pen for the first time with DAR #39-09, 40-09 & 41-09. All went well. She was up and ready for exercise early the next morning. By the end of August whe was one of two DAR chicks not yet flying, but it won't be long until she is ready. When her protective buddy, 39-09, was kept quiet because of a leg injury, little 42-09 got picked on by the other chicks.

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: DAR 42-09 was released at ERP on the refuge along with DAR 40-09 and 41-09. They roosted together there the first night, but returned to Site 3 the next day and joined DAR 32-09 and 38-09. Their other flockmates also soon joined them there. On October 27, female 42-09 separated from the group and began associating with adults #310, W1-06*, 101, 412, DAR 27-05 and sandhill cranes. But each night DAR 42-09 returned to to roost on southern refuge pools. Will she soon follow the older cranes to learn the migration route, as experts hope she will?

Migration History

Last updated: 11/03/09

Back to "Meet the Flock 2009"