Whooping Cane

Endangered Species Bulletin, Jan-Feb, 2004

The successful effort to reintroduce migratory whooping cranes to the eastern United States continued as 20 of the reintroduced whoopers migrated back to Wisconsin on their own from Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida during the spring of 2003. One crane stopped short of Wisconsin and stayed in northern Illinois for the spring and summer, but most remained in and around Wisconsin for the summer. Though primarily staying in the vicinity of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, they also demonstrated appropriate foraging and roosting behavior on a number of other state, federal, and private wetlands. Three juvenile female whoopers made their way to South Dakota. Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) biologists and South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks staff mutually agreed that WCEP would retrieve the three birds and return them to Necedah Refuge in Wisconsin (the original reintroduction site). Unfortunately, one of the birds became stressed after it was retrieved and eventually had to be euthanized.

Sixteen whooping cranes that hatched at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Maryland) in the spring spent the summer training to follow behind ultralight aircraft. Those whooping cranes began their ultralight-led migration south to Chassahowitzka on October 16, 2003. We hope to add the 16 new cranes from this year's reintroduction to the 20 adult and juvenile whooping cranes from the 2001 and 2002 reintroductions.