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Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership
2001 Annual Report

2001 Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership Report (31-page PDF)

During the 2001 field season 11 whooping cranes were hatched and reared at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center to participate in the first attempt to reintroduce a migratory population of Whooping cranes into Eastern North America. Ten birds were shipped to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge including two with wing injuries. After extensive flight conditioning and socialization 8 birds began the migration on October 17, 2001. The migration included 26 stops, covered 1227.28 miles and lasted 50 days. Six birds completed the migration following the aircraft and a seventh was transported to each stop in a shipping container. It was penned at night with the rest of the flock in order to maintain its social standing. The team hoped this bird would follow its flock mates north in the spring, however, it was taken by a bobcat shortly after arriving at the southern terminus.

The Annual Report is a compilation of reports from the following WCEP teams.

1. Field/Bird Team Report

The Field Team component of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership reports to the Bird Team and is responsible for the rearing, imprinting, socializing, flight conditioning and migration of the birds released in Florida.

2. Health Team Report

Health care and disease monitoring were provided for the 10 whooping cranes in the 2001 WCEP project.

3. Outreach Team Report

The Outreach Team is comprised of public affairs, outreach, environmental education, information and communication specialists from the founding WCEP partners with the exception of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

 

4. Finance & Budget Report

The mission of the Finance & Budget Committee is to: A) raise funds to meet project needs as determined by each partner and agreed to by the Committee, B) coordinate the development of and reporting against budget of both the total project and grants specified by the project team, and C) coordinate fund raising requests from non-governmental partners to avoid duplicate grant requests to the same potential donors. In addition, the Finance and Budget Committee works closely with the Outreach Committee to plan and implement donor recognition programs.

 

5. Regulatory & Permits Team Report

The regulatory and permits team includes environmental review personnel in four regions and the Washington Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) as well as representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the WCEP outreach team.

 

6. Flyway Council Coordination Team Report

The Flyway Coordination Team and partners have been actively involved since December of 1998 in communicating with the Fish and Wildlife Service, involved states, tribes and the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyway Council concerning the Eastern Whooping Crane Reintroduction Proposal to obtain input, advice and support.

 

7. Sandhill Crane Monitoring Report

Crane Eastern Partnership conducted two research studies using costume/isolation-reared greater sandhill cranes reared and released in 2000: One involved leading sandhill cranes with ultralight aircraft to a predetermined wintering area. The other involved testing a variant of releasing captive-reared sandhill cranes into wild sandhill crane flocks.