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A rare, young whooping crane being trained to migrate from Wisconsin to Florida dies after a routine health check, yet the experiment proceeds.
By ALEX LEARY
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 19, 2001
CHASSAHOWITZKA -- One of 10 whooping cranes training for a historic human-led migration to Chassahowitzka has died, apparently overcome by stress from a routine health check and leg-banding procedure.
The wing feathers of another crane exhibit deformities, and the bird lacks endurance, a potential problem because the 1,250-mile flight from Wisconsin to Florida will require peak health.
Despite the setbacks, researchers say the experiment will proceed, with takeoff scheduled for sometime next month.
"While the loss of even one of these magnificent, endangered creatures is tragic, the project will continue to move forward," said Steve Miller of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
"We will investigate the circumstance surrounding the loss, using what we learn to reduce the likelihood of additional losses."
The migration technique was tested last year with sandhill cranes, which are more abundant. A flock successfully followed ultralight planes across seven states in 40 days.
They arrived in Citrus County on Nov. 11, spent the winter at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge and then returned -- on their own accord -- to the marshes of Wisconsin.
Because there are no migrating whoopers in the East, only a nonmigratory flock in Kissimmee, the young cranes must be taught to navigate south, picking ideal fields to rest and feed.
Even before they were hatched in a Maryland laboratory, the sandhills were exposed to the sound of the aircraft. As fledglings, they were trained to follow the planes, outfitted with devices that emit the call of a mother crane, and eventually took longer and longer flights.
The process is now being repeated using whoopers, one of the world's rarest birds. Only 400 exist in North America, so researchers are eager to rebuild the population. They hope to repeat the migration for at least five years.
Team members in Wisconsin say history is unfolding before them, even if they don't always notice.
"The experience of flying with them hasn't really sunk in because our flights are so short," said Joe Duff, one of the pilots.
Duff said the whoopers take longer to fledge than the sandhills but in recent weeks have built endurance.
"There is also less aggression in the flock," he said. "They seem to have figured out their dominance structure. Once they figure out their flock arrangement, they fly better."
The death of the whooper was discovered not long after a health check last Tuesday. Each crane received injections to prevent Eastern equine encephalitis and was fitted with radio tracking collars and identification bands.
"The examination went smoothly but once this bird was returned to the pen, his behavior indicated that all was not well," Duff wrote in an journal maintained at www.operationmigration.org.
"He was closely monitored for an hour or two and given fluids. Expecting a cold night, we moved the bird to an enclosure . . . where we could provide a heat lamp. Despite our best efforts, the bird died just before midnight."
Barry Hartup, a veterinarian for the International Crane Foundation, examined the bird and attributed its death to stress. "There was no physical injury," he said.
Whooping cranes, which grow to be 5 feet tall, are quite fragile, much more so than sandhills, Hartup added.
Given the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, air travel has been under tight federal regulation. Could that jeopardize the whooping crane mission?
Not likely, said Joan Guilfoyle, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official involved in the project.
"I can't see why it would at this point. We're not going to be going anywhere for another three, maybe four weeks."
- Staff writer Alex Leary can be reached at (352) 564-3623 or leary@sptimes.com.