Dear Cub kids: Long live Whooping Cranes!

One of the things I love to do most is write a letter to Indian schoolkids for the bimonthly Indian (but English language!) eco-kids magazine called Cub, published by dear friends in Bombay. My letter is called "Talkin' Tigers with Jen" but although I frequently write about tigers, I often wander off to other nature topics. Here is a recent "Talkin' Tigers"...

Dear Cub kids,

Are you ready for a conservation success story? Here’s one about some really big birds, the Whooping crane, Grus americana, one of only two crane species found in North America (the other is the Sandhill crane).

Whooping cranes, named for their loud, penetrating unison calls, are the tallest bird in North America at nearly five feet. They have a wingspan of 7.5 feet! These birds, like all cranes, are magnificent. Adults are white with a red crest, black wingtips, and a long, dark pointed bill. Juveniles have golden-brown plumage that gradually disappears during their first year. In flight, Whooping cranes’ long necks stretch straight before them, and their long, dark legs trail behind. The adults’ black wing tips are visible during flight.

Whooping cranes live and breed in wetland areas, and feed while wading in shallow water. They are omnivores, finding crabs, clams, frogs, and aquatic plants tasty. While young, Whooping cranes are vulnerable to many different potential predators, including the American Black bear, the wolverine, the gray wolf, the red fox, the lynx, the bald eagle, and the common raven. But the adult Whooping cranes are so enormous, very few animals will attempt to take them down. The occasional exception is the bobcat, the only natural predator powerful and stealthy enough to prey on adult Whooping cranes.

Do you have any idea why these charismatic birds dwindled in numbers until, with just 15 left in the 1940s, they were at the very brink of extinction? You guessed it -- Homo sapiens, insatiable hunter and destroyer of habitat. In the nick of time, the American government enacted the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Since that year, the only remaining naturally occurring population of migrating Whooping cranes has grown to just over 200 birds. This group migrates between Wood Buffalo National Park, up in Canada, and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the coast of Texas.

But though crane numbers rose, the problem was that this solitary population of cranes was extremely vulnerable to being wiped out by a single calamity: severe weather, avian disease, an oil or chemical spill. Scientists and conservationists became anxious to try to establish additional populations of the crane. The problem was that for many bird species, the ability to migrate is a learned process, handed down from one generation to the next. When the last bird vanishes from an area, a traditional route is lost forever.

If new Whooping crane populations were to be successfully reintroduced, they would have to be taught how and where to migrate! How could people teach cranes how to migrate??... by getting the birds to follow them in the air! Scientists teamed up with aviators and for years they researched and developed methods for a bird migration led by aircraft! Operation Migration was born. In 1999, the Canadian/U.S. Whooping Crane Recovery Team asked Operation Migration to try to reintroduce Whooping cranes into central Wisconsin by teaching a captive-born population to migrate by leading them with ultralight aircraft to their wintering ground on the west coast of Florida.

For about ten years now, concerned humans have taken over for mother nature. Whooping crane chicks are hatched at captive propagation centers throughout North America. While still inside their eggs, chicks are exposed to and imprinted on the sounds of ultralight aircraft. Once the chicks hatch, they are reared in total isolation from humans, with project biologists and pilots going to great lengths to ensure that the impressionable young cranes remain wild. The growing cranes never hear the sound of a human voice, and biologists wear big, baggy white costumes designed to obscure the human form. The handlers wear a crane puppet on one arm that can dispense food and show young chicks how to forage, as their mother would. (see photo above!)

Over months, as the young cranes grow and fledge, they are brought from around the country to Wisconsin to establish dominance patterns, and become familiar with the aircraft and pilots that become their surrogate parents. In early October, the big day comes: using four ultralights, which are tiny planes no larger than a motorcycle with a white sail overhead like the wings of an adult crane, the pilots take off. Using a ground crew of bird handlers and other staff, the planes and young cranes cover 0 to 200 miles per day depending on weather conditions.

The migration passes through seven states, covers 1,250 miles, and takes anywhere from 60 to 90 days to complete. Each stop-over location is chosen for its isolation from human activity, and the birds stay overnight in portable pens that protect them from predators. Once successfully in Florida, the cranes stay at two different refuges, and are carefully watched over by biologists, the International Crane Foundation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Finally, in early spring, the cranes begin their unassisted! return migration to central Wisconsin for the summer. Scientists on the ground keep track of each bird via a radio-tracking device attached to one leg. Each year, nearly one million schoolchildren, and over 7 million people have followed the cranes' daily progress online. You can too, by going to: www.operationmigration.org

There are now about 450 captive and wild Whooping cranes in the United States, and their numbers are growing each year, thanks to the dedication of thousands of people. Each year since 2001, more wild Whooping cranes have joined existing flocks, with the exception of early 2007, when a disastrous storm killed all of the 2006 yearlings after their arrival in Florida.

Here is what ornithologist and conservationist Robert Porter Allen said about Whooping cranes and belated human efforts on their behalf:

For the Whooping crane there is no freedom but that of unbounded wilderness, no life except its own. Without meekness, without a sign of humility, it has refused to accept our idea of what the world should be like. If we succeed in preserving the wild remnant that still survives, it will be no credit to us; the glory will rest on this bird whose stubborn vigor has kept it alive in the face of increasing and seemingly hopeless odds.

Your friend,

Jen

February 2010