Migratory Whooping Crane Reintroduction

2006 Summary

Fall 2006 marked the 6th successful ultralight-guided migration for young whooping cranes. The migration team arrived in Halpata Tastanaki Preserve, Florida in December after traveling 76 days and 1,234 miles south. This year’s migration was longer than average, due to several days of adverse weather conditions that prevented the planes and the birds from flying. The birds received health checks and tracking bands at Halpata, and they are expected to arrive at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge soon, where they will spend the winter. The birds will receive limited care from scientists over winter. They then make the return migration to Wisconsin on their own by February or March.

Four additional young whooping cranes were released by International Crane Foundation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists during late October at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in this year’s “direct release” migration experiment. These birds follow older whoopers that learned the migration route from ultralights but have since completed the migration unaided. All have migrated to Florida for the winter and seem to be adapting well.

Currently, the Wisconsin WCEP release project consists of 82 whooping cranes. In addition to the 18 birds led to Florida by the ultralights, there are 4 in Indiana, 3 or 4 in Tennessee, 2 in Alabama, 1 in Louisiana, 3 in South Carolina, and 47 in Florida as of January 11, 2007.

Just over 500 birds make up the total whooping crane population. The Florida non-migratory release population has 54 birds, the Texas-Canadian population has about 234, and there are roughly 145 in captivity across the country.

Whooping cranes returning to Wisconsin have been seen in 43 counties

Five crane pairs nested in spring 2006

Wild whooping cranes released as part of an effort to restore an eastern migratory population of this endangered species have been observed in 43 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, indicating the birds are feeling at home and spreading out in search of optimal habitat for new nesting territories.

The whooping cranes, members of a growing restored population, can be primarily found within the lower two-thirds of the state along major Wisconsin rivers and wetlands, in addition to the core reintroduction area of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.

“Cranes are using wetlands along the lower Wisconsin River, in more than 25 state wildlife areas, at Horicon Marsh and numerous private wetlands, which underscores the value of wetland ecosystems in this state,” said Beth Goodman, whooping crane coordinator with the state Department of Natural Resources, one of the agencies in the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, which is working to reestablish an eastern migratory population. June 2006 marked the first time in over 100 years that whooping crane chicks hatched in Wisconsin wetlands. (see photo)

Sighting one of the bright white adults, which stand up to 5 feet tall, can be a rewarding experience say those lucky enough to see one.

“Today I was greeted by the call of a whooping crane…beautiful! What more can I say?” was the sentiment expressed recently by Mary Brazeau Brown, of Glacial Lake Cranberries Inc, located in Wood County.

Brown has been an enthusiastic supporter of whooping cranes since 2001, the first year of partnership efforts to restore whooping cranes to Wisconsin and eastern north America.

“What I first thought were swans, on second glance turned out to be five whooping cranes, so I quickly hunkered down and practically crawled out of there on my belly, in order not to disturb them,” noted Greg Kidd, a wetland monitoring biologist for the Wetland Reserve Program for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. He found the cranes on a privately owned Dane County wetland easement scheduled for a prescribed burn this spring.

“It turned out these five birds stayed for only six days, but their presence signaled a sign of habitat investigation by young birds recently back from wintering in Florida,” Goodman said. “Last summer these five birds and others investigated wetlands along the lower Wisconsin River from spring through July. In future years, these individuals will be mature enough to establish territories and may one day be seeking out nesting territories in places established in their memory banks throughout the state.”

In spring 2005 there were four nesting pairs at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and one nest at Meadow Valley State Wildlife Area in central Wisconsin.

Biologists and project staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the International Crane Foundation and Wisconsin DNR track and monitor the cranes in an effort to learn about their habitat choices and evaluate project success. Natural predators also play a role in nesting success. Eggs from 5 nests were lost, possibly destroyed by predators this spring.