January 11 - 17, 2002

Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge (Citrus County, Florida)

The young cranes continue to prefer roosting outside of the pen. For four nights they were near the pen at dusk and we (costumed caretakers) led/herded them inside. But once inside the pen they did not roost in the pool. On Jan. 15 they chose to roost in a pool east of the pen.

The next evening (Jan. 16) all 5 birds were in the pen just before dark but flew out at 6:00 pm. We played a contact call over a loudspeaker which they responded to and the birds flew over the pen but did not land when the call was played from the pen. The birds then flew back to their previous position and roosted there for the night.

On Jan. 17 all 5 birds (No. 10 was still missing) were in the pen just before dark. A costumed dummy is in the pen and a contact call was played from a tape recorder in the dummy. The birds initially vocalized in response to the call but showed no interest in the dummy. They walked out to a costumed caretaker near the dummy who offered them acorns. At 6:00 pm bird No. 6 was looking intently west at the faint glow remaining from the sun, which had set earlier. Another bird on the shore was doing the same. The birds began giving the flight intention call in apparent response to this visual cue and flew from the pen. They flew east and north about 1 mile where they apparently roosted for the night.

These young cranes are becoming adults, on Jan. 17 No. 2 produced the adult call - the others still have their chick voices. The dark facial pattern is well developed on all birds except No. 6.

On Jan. 12 the trap that was set on Jan. 8 between the blind and pen was sprung with no capture. On the morning of Jan. 16 a bobcat was caught in the trap but escaped by ramming the closed door and squeezing through the small gap between the door and trap wall. Presumably the same bobcat, a male, was captured again in this trap on Jan. 18 and then removed from the area.

During the period covered by this update, Bird No. 10 remained missing but its remains were found on Jan. 19 - apparently preyed on by a bobcat. Please see the News Release for more details.

Sandhill cranes (from last year's migration study):

It was reported that as of Jan. 17 there were still 10,000-12,000 sandhill cranes at Jasper-Pulaski, Indiana, but that some may have departed on Jan. 11 and 17. Signals on sandhill cranes No.'s 9 and 11 were not detected since Jan. 10, and signals on No.’s 4 or 12 were not detected since Jan. 11.

(Update prepared from Weekly Field Reports submitted by our biologists monitoring the birds at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge: Richard Urbanek, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Marianne Wellington, International Crane Foundation)

Last week's update - Next week's update

Please see the International Crane Foundation's website for information on the wintering whooping cranes.