Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership
2007 Annual Report

Summary - Go here for the complete 69-page report (PDF)

2007 Project Year in Summary

prepare by the WCEP Project Direction Team co-chairs

Louise Clemency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Joe Duff, Operation Migration

The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership is an association of federal, state and private organizations from both the United States and Canada working together to reintroduce migratory whooping cranes into eastern North America and help safeguard this magnificent but imperiled species from extinction.

Each year since 2001, a new generation of young whooping cranes has been raised at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. At about 50 days of age, they are moved to the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin where Operation Migration, Inc., conditions them to follow ultralight aircraft flown by pilots in crane costumes. In the fall they are led by the OM team through seven signatory states over 1,200 miles to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge. Over the winter and in the spring when they make their unassisted return migration, the young birds—as well as all of the older birds, are tracked and monitored by the International Crane Foundation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Now that there is a small population of whooping cranes migrating in the eastern flyway an alternate release method is being tested. In the Direct Autumn Release (DAR) project, birds hatched at the International Crane Foundation are moved to the Necedah NWR to be acclimated to the wetland habitat. In the fall they are released with older experienced whooping cranes in the hopes that they will learn wild behaviour and follow their conspecifics on their first migration south.

As of January 31, 2008, there were 76 birds in the eastern population (40 males and 36 females). As many as 13 pairs appear to have been established and one pair produced a wild-hatched offspring that they raised in 2006 at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and taught to migrate to Florida. This is the first wild-hatched migratory whooping crane in the eastern United States in over 100 years.

The purpose of this reintroduction is to establish a self-sustaining population of migratory whooping cranes in the eastern flyway. Essential to meeting this goal of a self-sustaining population is for the cranes we have released to begin breeding in Wisconsin and successfully adding wild-hatched chicks to the population. As the released crane population grows and establishes pair bonds we hope to see additional nesting success in Wisconsin. In 2007, four nesting attempts resulted in six eggs, though all of these nests were abandoned by their young parents before hatching. One egg that was collected from an abandoned nest was incubated at Patuxent and successfully raised to a chick that was returned to Necedah with the rest of the ultralight cohort.

In terms of biology, media attention, outreach and opportunities to raise conservation awareness, this has been the most successful wildlife reintroduction in North American history. It has been termed the wildlife equivalent of putting a man on the moon. Additionally the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership acts as a model of multi-jurisdictional, international cooperation in the field of conservation.
Because of the combined effort of the many agencies involved, the partnership has made great strides toward achieving its goal and is proud of all that has been accomplished. The 2007 season, however, was challenging for both WCEP and the whooping cranes.

By the beginning of 2007, the reintroduced migratory whooping crane population stood at 64 individuals plus 18 young birds that had just successfully completed their ultralight-led migration to Florida, where they were soon to be released and added to the wild population. Then on February 2, 2007, a devastating storm ripped through central Florida with severe winds, lightning and storm driven high tides.

Twenty people were killed that night, as well as seventeen of the birds wintering at Chassahowitzka. Lightning struck near to the pen in which the birds were roosting and they were stunned by the electrical shock. One bird mysteriously escaped but 17 died of aspiration of salt water. The eighteenth bird was later lost to unknown causes in Florida.

This loss took its toll on the entire team and generated over 700 media stories. The partnership conducted an extensive examination of the event. Weather reporting systems, necropsy results, and staff accounts were considered. Lightning experts were consulted; weather history and tidal records were studied. Safety measures and modification to the pens were proposed and an Unusual Mortality Report was published by the WCEP Project Direction Team. This report is available on the WCEP Web site at:
http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/back/2006chicks/feb2007mortality_rpt.htm. Additionally, a Winter Management Committee was established to determine if a new site was needed and to investigate possible candidates. Several were considered with St Marks National Wildlife Refuge near Tallahassee the most likely prospect.

The beginning of the 2007 breeding season looked promising and we hoped to maximize the number of birds released in order to help mitigate the loss of the class of 2006. Survival during the early stages of rearing was slightly lower that normal at Patuxent and 18 birds were prepared for relocation to Wisconsin in the spring. The DAR project was further tested with 11 birds prepared for release at the International Crane Foundation.

The ultralight migration began on October 13 and continued until January 28, 2008, with a break over Christmas to allow most of the crew to return home to their families. Seventeen birds arrived safely on the wintering grounds, where protective severe weather protocols and pen modifications (including a gate that would release automatically in response to high water) were enacted to maximise the safety of the birds during even unexpected and extreme weather events.

Ten Direct Autumn Release birds were acclimated to the wetland at Necedah NWR over the summer by a team from ICF. They were released on October 29 and 30 at sites occupied by whooping cranes.

Despite the challenges of the 2007 season, 27 birds were added to the eastern whooping crane population, almost twice the number that existed in the 1940s. The combined efforts of many agencies and the dedication of a large team of field staff and volunteers is safeguarding these birds from extinction.

Each and every member of the partnership remains committed to seeing this project through to its successful completion.

Once known as the white ghost of the wetlands, these magnificent birds are a keystone species and an indicator of the health of our environment. Their existence in the eastern flyway inspires an increased effort to safeguard their habitat and in doing so it is preserved for many less engaging creatures that are so important to biodiversity. Our focus is to save whooping cranes but in the end it may be the whooping crane that saves us.

Go here for the complete 69-page report (PDF)

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