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Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership

September 2008 Project Update

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Photo by Mark Chenoweth

Background
Every year since 2001, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) has raised groups of whooping crane chicks at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in central Wisconsin. Birds are reared by costumed handlers using an isolation protocol to prevent human habituation and then led by ultralight aircraft to a wintering area on the gulf coast of Florida. In 2005, we also began using the Direct Autumn Release (DAR) technique. With this technique, birds are reared in isolation as they are for the ultralight project, but are then released in small groups with wild whooping cranes. The intent is that they learn the migration route from these older, more experienced birds.

2008 Population

As of early September 2008 we have 69 wild birds in the population, with the majority in Wisconsin, although we also have 4 birds in Michigan, 7 in Minnesota, and 1 in Indiana (See map below). Whooping cranes often wander over a large area during their first year of life and most of the birds not currently in the Wisconsin reintroduction area are young birds hatched in 2007.

Nesting Success and Disappointments
We had our first nesting attempts in Wisconsin in 2005, although they were unsuccessful. However, in 2006, we saw at least 10 breeding pairs produce five nests with eggs. For the first time in over 100 years in the eastern United States, one of these nests successfully hatched and fledged a wild whooping crane. This wild-raised chick is still alive, after twice migrating to the Florida wintering area and back.

In 2007, there were four more nesting attempts, but all nests were abandoned prior to hatching. In 2008, we documented 11 nesting attempts, all of which, again, were abandoned during incubation. The cause for the nest abandonment we have observed over the past several years has not yet been determined, but is currently a priority subject of study for this project.

2008 Cohort’s Fall Migration

We are currently preparing 21 chicks for the fall 2008 migration: 15 cranes for the ultralight project and 6 for the DAR project. The ultralight birds are training by flying behind the aircraft every day, dependant upon weather, to gain strength and endurance. The targeted departure date is October 10, with plans to use a new, more westerly migration route to Florida this year. (See map below). This new route was established to avoid the difficulties associated with crossing the Appalachians. The DAR birds will continue their training until late fall, when they will be released in groups of two to three birds near suitable older cranes near the Necedah NWR rearing site. These DAR birds will be carefully monitored during the fall migration to track their locations and ensure their continued progress towards the Florida wintering area.

Previous Cohorts’ Fall Migration and Reporting Sightings

Pre-migration movements have already begun, although we do not expect to see any large migration movements until late fall. When migration gets into full swing in October and November, we ask that sightings of migrants be passed on to us through the whooping crane reporting web site we have established for that purpose:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/whoopingcrane/sightings/sightingform.cfm

The link above provides a public reporting form on a site maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), but when a report is submitted, the information goes simultaneously to multiple partners including the biologists who are tracking the birds, FWS, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, International Crane Foundation, and Operation Migration.

We ask that everyone help reduce habituation to humans by observing the birds from a safe distance with binoculars and/or spotting scopes. Cranes who become overly tolerant of human presence are at greater risk to numerous hazards that could endanger their well-being. We recognize that some birders may share the specific locations of whooping cranes on local “rare bird alerts”, but we believe that most people are glad to protect the birds by maintaining their distance and allowing these birds to establish a healthy, wild nature. We ask the media to not release any locations more specific than county level.

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