Category Archives: Cranes

Ten Birds Learn to Migrate

video from Assignment Earth on YouTube

20 October 2011

Ten of the most endangered birds in North America are making their first migration now.

Whooping cranes are so rare that there are less than 600 of them on earth: 162 are in captivity, 44 are non-migratory and approximately 278 nest in Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada and migrate to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Texas. The rest spend the summer in Wisconsin and migrate to Florida on a route they learned from ultralite aircraft.

Back in 1941 whooping cranes nearly went extinct. In the wild their population had dwindled to only 15 migratory birds (21 total) so scientists and crane lovers began a captive breeding program to bring them back.  The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) works to reintroduce them to their eastern range.

Like many animals, whooping cranes imprint on the creature that raises them from babyhood.  In the wild that would be their parents, but in a captive breeding program where adult birds are unavailable humans must dress in crane costumes and use mute gestures so the young birds learn to be cranes.

Thankfully the program increased the eastern whooping crane population but the new birds were non-migratory.  Since cranes learn to migrate from their parents who would teach them?  Enter the ultralite.

Ultralite aircraft are like kites with motors, just a little larger than the humans who fly them.  The first ever whooper-ultralite migration occurred in Idaho in 1997.  Before leading endangered eastern whoopers, pilots Bill Lishman and Joe Duff practiced by leading young Canada geese and sandhill cranes.  In 2001 Operation Migration they led the first group of young whoopers from Necedah NWR, Wisconsin to Chassahowitza NWR, Florida.

The young cranes memorize the route on their way south and fly back to Wisconsin on their own in the spring.  By now there are adult cranes who know the route so WCEP has a Direct Autumn Release project which releases some of each year’s young with the Wisconsin adults so they learn to migrate by following them.

The video above from the mid-2000’s tells the whoopers’ migration story.  Shortly after this video was made, 17 of the 18 whoopers from the 2006 fall migration were killed by violent storms that hit the wildlife refuge one night in February 2007.  The 18th died three months later.  Fortunately this was the only tragedy of its kind but it underscores how vulnerable small populations can be.

This year’s cohort of 10 young cranes began their journey on October 9 at White River Marsh Wildlife Area, Wisconsin and are headed for St. Marks National Wildlife Reserve, Florida.  So far they’ve made little progress because strong gusty winds have kept them grounded for days.  This week they were still at stopover #1!

Follow their journey here on the Operation Migration field journal.  Click here for a video from the ultralite’s perspective.  (You may want to turn the sound down; the ultralite motor is loud.)

Learn more at Journey North’s Whooper page.

(video from Assignment Earth via YouTube)

Look Behind You

Sandhill cranes in flight (photo by Chuck Tague)

4 January 2009

I know there are sandhill cranes in Lawrence County and I know they’re easier to find in winter, but for years I’ve avoided searching for them because I am so very disappointed when they elude me, and they usually do.

You’d think that gray birds nearly four feet tall with a 6.5 foot wingspan would be hard to hide – until you start looking for them in brown fields.  The area to search is 15 square miles of rolling countryside, fields, thickets and wooded swamp.  During the day the cranes feed in the corn stubble with their heads down.  All it takes is a dip in the landscape to make them disappear from view.  I usually miss them entirely and my disappointment ruins an otherwise good day.

So it was with some uneasiness that I headed for Plain Grove, PA yesterday even though I knew 40 to 50 cranes had been seen there last week.  As I drove north on Interstate 79 I told myself, “You will not have a goal today!  Do not set your heart on seeing a particular bird!”

As I turned onto Old Ash Road I saw a good omen.  Four eastern bluebirds flew over and perched on the wire. Bluebirds of happiness. Things were looking up.

I drove slowly northwest looking out both sides of the car.  A hawk flew on the left.  Could it be a rough-legged hawk?  No, just a red-tail but …  Whoa!  What is that white lump at the edge of the field?  Is it a snowy owl?

I pulled off the road and studied the bird.  It didn’t move but it was so far away that the heat shimmers confused me.  I got out of the car and looked and looked and looked.  It didn’t move.  It was a plastic bag.

“Well,” I said to myself as opened the car door, “You might as well look behind you.  You never know.”

And there they were.  Fifty-nine Sandhill Cranes.

Woo hoo!

A Crane at Peanut

Sandhill Crane at Ethel Springs Lake (photo by Tim Vechter)Well, to be exact, there’s a sandhill crane at Ethel Springs reservoir between the village of Peanut and the town of Derry.  (The reservoir is also called Derry Lake.)

Sandhill Cranes are unusual in Pennsylvania and unheard of in the Laurel Mountains so it was quite surprising when this one showed up last month.

Most sandhills breed in Canada and the western U.S., then migrate to Texas, northern Mexico and Florida for the winter.  They usually travel in flocks and family groups but this one is alone and far off its migratory path.  Cranes feed and breed in open marshes and wet grasslands.  Perhaps the lake was this bird’s last best choice when it saw the mountains up ahead.

The crane survived our early January cold snap by hanging out with the resident mute swans and mallards.  I suspect some kind-hearted folks made sure it had something to eat.  People walk and jog on the lake path yet the crane is as unconcerned by humans as the ducks are.

Sandhill Crane at Ethel Springs Lake (photo by Tim Vechter)Cranes are huge birds – four feet tall – and unmistakable.  People sometimes confuse them with great-blue herons so that may be why this one is not stirring up a lot of attention. Birders, however, are pretty psyched.  Tim Vechter has been watching the crane for a few weeks and provided these photos.

I hope the sandhill crane enjoys its stay and makes it safely home to Canada in spring.  It will certainly have quite a story to tell when it gets there.