Migratory Whooping Crane Reintroduction

2007 Summary

The seventeen whooping crane chicks in the 2007 cohort completed their 1,262-mile migration from Wisconsin to Florida. This marks the seventh year that whooping crane chicks raised in captivity have been led south on a migration route following ultralight aircraft flown by costumed biologists.

The planes and cranes departed from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in October 2007 and arrived at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida on January 28, 2008. This was the longest migration to date, and this is the first year that the migration has extended past December. The crew was unable to fly for many days due to adverse weather conditions (high winds and cold temperatures). Of the 108 days that the migration lasted, the crew only had 25 flight days.

The birds had their health checks, received their color-coded identification bands, and are now wintering at Chassohowitzka. Both the chicks and the weather are closely monitored while the birds are at their pensite in Florida.

Of the 17 birds following the ultralights this year, two were from eggs that were laid in the wild, one at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and one in Florida.

Ten 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 autumn release (DAR)” migration experiment. Seven of these cranes are still alive and wintering in Tennessee as of February 2008.

The cranes spend the summer months in places such as Necedah, Mill Bluff State Park, Black River State Forest, and Meadow Valley, Sandhill, McMillan Marsh and Horicon State Wildlife Areas, as well as wetlands in Winnebago County. There are about 500 birds in the total population of whooping cranes in the wild and captivity across the country.

The Wisconsin DNR and members of Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership were deeply saddened by the deaths of 18 whooping cranes in the 2006 cohort. After completing their migration to Florida, a tornado struck their pensite in February. The whooping crane reintroduction project has always succeeded in overcoming challenges, however, and losing so many of the cranes to a natural event reminds us of why the whooping crane reintroduction efforts took flight in the first place. The effects of nature on a population cannot always be controlled, and to ensure the survival of this rare bird, reintroduction efforts must continue to help the population grow until it is robust against natural events such as tornadoes. This year, both the weather and the pensite will be closely monitored while the birds are in Florida to prevent such a situation from occurring again.