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Five feet tall,
covered with
spectacular white plumage, masked with mysterious black markings, and
capped
with a red topknot, the whooping crane is a spectacle of the bird world. As the tallest bird in North America, its
wings stretch seven to eight feet, and its peculiar “whooping” call can
be
heard for miles.
The whooping
crane is one of the
rarest species in North America. In
1942, just 15 birds existed. Although
still severely endangered, their population has bounced back
considerably, with
320 known wild individuals in 2003. Considering
this crane’s rarity, when one solo
journeyer suddenly
appeared in the Cannon River region last summer, local conservationists
and
birders alike were thrilled.
“Number 021” is
what they called
her. Captively bred in Maryland, she
hatched on April 12, 2002 and became part of a program to re-establish
a wild
population of migratory whooping cranes in the eastern United States. As a youngster, she was sent, along with 15
other whooping crane chicks, to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in
Wisconsin. There,
she became part of a
well-publicized experiment that combined human training, bird instinct,
and
ultra-light aircraft.
Mimicking a
similar successful
experiment with sandhill cranes, Necedah researchers and
conservationists used
ultralight aircraft to teach young whooping cranes an impressive 1,200
mile
migratory route south to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge on the
Gulf
Coast of Florida.
Before making
the journey with the
ultralight aircraft, the whooping crane chicks trained hard. Back in Maryland, while still in their eggs,
they were exposed to tape recordings of ultralight engines and whooping
crane
calls. When the birds hatched, the
researchers dressed up in whooping crane garb in an attempt to minimize
the
imprinting of human species behavior onto the birds.
With this preparation,
number 021 and her companions were shipped
to Necedah.
There, she continued to confront
researchers dressed as whooping cranes, grew further accustomed to the
sound of
recorded calls and engine noise, and learned to follow a costumed pilot
around
the grounds. As they matured and grew flight feathers, 021 and her
fellow
long-legged trainees ran behind an ultralight. As they grew stronger in
late
summer, the birds eventually followed an ultralight into the air. They
took
longer and longer flights with the aircraft, built their endurance, and
prepared for their winter migration to Florida.
After rigorous
training, ultralight
pilots and eight cranes, including 021, made their journey south. The birds,
ultralights, and pilots
hopscotched across the Midwest and Southeast, covering approximately 20
to 100
miles each travel day, until they reached Chassahowitzka NWR in 49
days.
The true test
came the following
spring. Would the whooping cranes
return to Wisconsin on their own? Return
they did. Over twenty cranes returned,
unguided, to Wisconsin.
After spending the summer of 2002 in Wisconsin, 021 and other
experienced
cranes made their way, unguided, back to Florida. Which
brings us to spring 2003, when 021 flirted with Minnesota
residence. Upon her return to the
Midwest, she wandered solo to Minnesota, where she spent the summer
near
Owatonna and Rice Lake State Park.
It is
uncertain whether or not number 021 will
return, and if so, whether or not she brings others along.
It has been over a century since Minnesota
had a pair of breeding whooping cranes, with the last confirmed pair on
Elbow
Lake in Grant County in 1876. If number
021, or other whooping cranes return, one thing is certain: the Cannon
River
Valley is ready for them.
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