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WHOOPING
CRANE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP
News Release
They Did It Again!
Whooping Cranes and Ultralights Reach Florida
December
12, 2004
Media
Contacts:
Joan Garland, WCEP/International
Crane Foundation, 608-381-1262
Heather Ray, Operation
Migration, Inc., (905) 718-1292 (cell)
Rachel F. Levin, WCEP/USFWS
Midwest Region (WI, IL, IN), 612-713-5311
Chuck Underwood, USFWS Southeast
Region, (904) 232-2580 x109
Sarah Palmisano, Chassahowitzka
National Wildlife Refuge, (352) 563-2088, x210
Molly Mehl, Necedah National Wildlife
Refuge, (608) 565-2551
Henry Cabbage, Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission, (850) 488-8843
Bob Manwell, Wisconsin
DNR, (608) 264-9248
Thirteen
endangered whooping cranes and their surrogate parents—three ultralight
aircraft—reached Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge shortly
after 9 a.m. Eastern today after a 64-day, 1,200-mile trek over seven
states.
The young
cranes made a rare public appearance, flying over a welcoming crowd of
supporters at the Crystal River Mall in Crystal River, just prior to landing
at a special four-acre site at Chassahowitzka. Despite suffering damage
from some of the four hurricanes that hit Florida this year, the site
was ready for the birds' arrival.
"Though
hurricanes damaged more than 90 percent of the fencing around the pen,
staff, refuge volunteers and volunteers from other agencies and refuges
all came together to repair the damage,” said Chassahowitzka NWR
Manager Jim Kraus. “Everyone did a stellar job and we thank them
for their contribution to this reintroduction effort.”
The Whooping
Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), an international coalition of public
and private organizations, is conducting this ultralight-led reintroduction
project in an effort to return this highly imperiled species to its historic
range in eastern North America.
The cranes
left Necedah, Wis., on Oct. 10, following ultralight aircraft flown by
Operation Migration, Inc., pilots. International Crane Foundation, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
biologists will monitor their winter behavior and track them on their
anticipated spring migration north in 2005.
A day before
reaching Chassahowitzka NWR, one of the young birds of the Class of 2004,
number 6, died. On Dec. 10, migration team members discovered her lethargic
in her traveling pen and attempted to give her fluids at the recommendation
of veterinarians.
Though she
seemed to respond to the fluids, 6-04 appeared in need of medical attention,
and crewmembers carefully hooded her and drove her to the University of
Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, where doctors examined her. The
bird's white blood cell count extremely high and she showed evidence of
parasitic and bacterial infections. To prevent any further stress, veterinarians
euthanized number 6-04 on Dec. 11.
These birds
are the fourth generation of whooping cranes to make this unique assisted
migration from Wisconsin to Florida. Cranes from the ultralight-led migration
classes of 2001, 2002 and 2003 are making or have completed their own
unassisted southward migrations, representing another milestone in this
historic reintroduction effort.
In 2001,
project partner Operation Migration’s pilots led the first whooping
crane chicks, conditioned to follow their ultralight surrogates south
from Necedah NWR to Chassahowitzka NWR on Florida’s Gulf Coast. In
2002, WCEP biologists and pilots conditioned and guided a second group
of juvenile cranes to Chassahowitzka NWR. In the fall of 2003, WCEP conducted
its third ultralight-led migration. With the success of this fall’s
migration, there are now 48 whooping cranes in the wild in eastern North
America.
WCEP asks
anyone who encounters a whooping crane in the wild to please give them
the respect and distance they need. Do not approach birds on foot within
600 feet; try to remain in your vehicle; do not approach in a vehicle
within 600 feet or, if on a public road, within 300 feet. Also, please
remain concealed and do not speak loudly enough that the birds can hear
you. Finally, do not trespass on private property in an attempt to view
whooping cranes.
The whooping
crane chicks that take part in the reintroduction project are hatched
at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
in Laurel, Md. There, the young cranes are introduced to ultralight aircraft
and raised in isolation from humans. To ensure the impressionable cranes
remain wild, project biologists and pilots adhere to a strict no-talking
rule, broadcast recorded crane calls and wear costumes designed to mask
the human form whenever they are around the cranes.
New classes
of cranes are transported to Necedah NWR each June to begin a summer of
conditioning behind the ultralights to prepare them for their fall migration.
Pilots lead the birds on gradually longer training flights at the refuge
throughout the summer until the young cranes are deemed ready to follow
the aircraft along the migration route.
Graduated
classes of whoopers spend much of their time during the summer on or near
the Necedah and Horicon national wildlife refuges, both of which are in
central Wisconsin. They also use state and private lands. It is not unusual
for yearling female cranes to wander, especially if they are not associating
with any male flockmates, which typically select the future breeding territory.
Project staff
from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service track and monitor
southbound cranes in an effort to learn as much as possible about
their unassisted journeys and the habitat choices they make along the
way. ICF and FWS biologists actively track the cranes as they make their
way north, and continue to monitor the birds, along with Wisconsin DNR
biologists, while the whooping cranes are in their summer locations.
Whooping
cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there are
only about 275 birds in the wild. Aside from the 35 Wisconsin-Florida
birds, the only
other migrating population of whooping cranes nests at the Wood Buffalo
National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada and winters at the
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migrating
flock of approximately 100 birds lives year-round in the central Florida
Kissimmee region.
Whooping
cranes, named for their loud and penetrating unison calls, live and breed
in wetland areas, where they feed on crabs, clams, frogs and aquatic plants.
They are distinctive animals, standing five feet tall, with white bodies,
black wing tips and red crowns on their heads.
Whooping
Crane Eastern Partnership founding members include the International
Crane, Foundation, Operation
Migration, Inc.,Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, U.S. Geological Survey's
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and National
Wildlife Health Center, International Whooping Crane Recovery Team,
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
and the Natural Resources Foundation
of Wisconsin.
Many other
flyway states, provinces, private individuals and conservation groups
have joined forces with and support WCEP by donating resources, funding
and personnel. More than 60 percent of the project’s estimated $1.8
million budget comes from private sources in the form of grants, public
donations and corporate sponsors.
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