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WHOOPING
CRANE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP
News Release
"Class of 2004" Endangered
Whooping Cranes Arrive in Wisconsin
PDF
Version
April 8, 2005
Media
Contacts:
Rachel F. Levin, WCEP/USFWS
Midwest Region, 612-713-5311
Beth
Goodman, WI Department of Natural Resources, 608-266-3219
Joan Garland, WCEP/International
Crane Foundation, 608-356-9462
Twelve juvenile whooping cranes from the ultralight-guided 2004 fall migration
have returned to southern and central Wisconsin wetlands, completing their
first unassisted spring migration. The birds returned after spending 103
days at their winter home on Florida's Chassahowitzka National Wildlife
Refuge.
A tracking team from the International
Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitored
the cranes as they entered their home state in the early evening hours
of April 4. Eleven cranes had traveled together since leaving Chassahowitzka
NWR on March 25. After flying through Georgia and veering as far east
as South Carolina, the cranes corrected their course, stopping in Indiana
before reaching Wisconsin.
A twelfth juvenile whooping crane that did not depart with the rest of
the flock migrated northward with cranes from previous hatch years and
arrived in Wisconsin on or about April 6.
“The return of the whooping cranes is a new rite of spring that we
can all look forward to,” said Signe Holtz, director of the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources’ Bureau of Endangered Resources.
“Having them back in our skies is thrilling. We’re seeing them
begin to spread out from their fledging grounds at Necedah National Wildlife
Refuge and use habitat in other areas of the state, giving more and more
people a chance at seeing them each year.”
The hatch year 2004 whooping cranes were guided southward last fall by
ultralight aircraft from their fledging grounds at the Necedah NWR to
their winter habitat at the Chassahowitzka NWR on the central-west coast
of Florida. The fall journey lasted 64 days, of which only 21 days were
spent actually “migrating.” The remaining 43 days were spent
on the ground waiting for weather to improve.
The 2004 fall flight marked the fourth successful ultralight-led migration
for the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), an international coalition
of public and private groups that is organizing the effort to reintroduce
this highly imperiled species in eastern North America and a portion of
its historic range. There are now 45 migrating whooping cranes in the
wild east of the Mississippi River.
A thirteenth hatch year 2004 crane, identified by project biologists as
18-04, remains at his wintering location in Florida. Project biologists
removed this young bird from the ultralight-imprinted group after several
of his primary feathers became infected and fell out during last summer’s
training period. Instead, once the flight feathers regenerated this young
crane was released with several older whooping cranes at the reintroduction
site. Crane 18-04 arrived in central Florida on January 3 after successfully
following several different whooping cranes for more than 1,200 miles.
WCEP expects to use this "supplemental release" reintroduction
method in the coming years to complement the known success of the ultralight-led
migrations. Using the two methods together gives project managers flexibility
in leveraging all whooping crane chicks made available to the reintroduction
project.
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,
Maryland. 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, and use recorded adult crane calls to communicate with the young
birds. Additionally, researchers 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 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 Department of Natural Resources 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 300 birds in the wild. Aside from the 45 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 70 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 5 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.
As the majority
of support for this project comes from private sources, individual contributions
are always welcome. Tax-exempt donations may be sent to any of the private
non-profit organizations in the partnership. For more information on the
project, its partners and how you can help, visit the WCEP website at
http://www.bringbackthecranes.org.
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