First whooping cranes of the "Class of 2008" arrive at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge

The seven chicks are members of the "Class of 2008", which will be the eighth flock of endangered juvenile whooping cranes to take part in a reintroduction project conducted by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), a coalition of public and private organizations. Thanks to the efforts of WCEP's members, there are now 72 wild, migrating cranes in eastern North America.

Microlight training
The chicks arrived from Patuxent Wildlife Research Center where the birds hatched and learned to follow ultralight aircraft on the ground. Following a veterinarian checkup that showed that all of the birds were healthy, they were shipped to Necedah NWR in large crates. A quick check by veterinarians upon arrival showed that the birds were ready for their new home on Necedah NWR. Two more cohorts of chicks will be shipped from Patuxent to Necedah NWR shortly.

Social training
A field team from Operation Migration and the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center will spend the summer strengthening the social cohesion of the flock and teaching them to fly behind the ultralights. This fall, Operation Migration will use ultralights to guide the young cranes on their first southward migration to Florida, the cranes' winter home.

Hand reared birds
In addition to the ultralight-led birds, biologists from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are rearing whooping crane chicks that will be released this fall into the company of older birds, from whom the young birds will learn the migration route from Necedah NWR to Florida. This is the fourth year WCEP has used this Direct Autumn Release method, which supplements the success of the ultralight migrations.

2001 - First microlight migration
In 2001, the first whooping crane chicks were led south behind ultralight aircraft from Necedah NWR to Chassahowitzka NWR. Each subsequent year, WCEP biologists and pilots have conditioned and guided additional groups of juvenile cranes to Chassahowitzka NWR. Once led south, the cranes are able to migrate on their own, without assistance, in following years.

The whooping crane chicks that take part in the reintroduction project are hatched at the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., and the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis. Chicks are raised under a strict isolation protocol and to ensure the birds remain wild, handlers adhere to a no-talking rule and wear costumes designed to mask the human form.

New classes of cranes are brought to Necedah NWR each June to begin a summer of conditioning behind the ultralights to prepare them for their fall migration. Operation Migration's pilots lead the birds on gradually longer training flights at the refuge throughout the summer until the young cranes are deemed ready to follow the aircraft along the migration route.

In the spring and fall, project staff from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service track and monitor the released cranes in an effort to learn as much as possible about their unassisted journeys and the habitat choices they make both along the way and on their summering and wintering grounds.

Most graduated classes of whooping cranes spend the summer in central Wisconsin, where they use areas on or near the Necedah NWR, as well as other public and private lands.

Verge of extinction in 1940s
Whooping cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there are only about 530 birds in existence, 380 of them in the wild. Aside from the 72 Wisconsin-Florida birds, the only other migrating population of whooping cranes nests at the Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada and winters at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast.

This year the Wood Buffalo-Aransas flock reached a record size, as biologists counted 266 individuals on the Aransas wintering grounds.

A non-migrating flock of approximately 40 birds lives year-round in the central Florida Kissimmee region. The remaining 150 whooping cranes are in captivity in zoos and breeding facilities around North America.

Loud calls
Whooping cranes, named for their loud and penetrating unison calls, live and breed in wetland areas, where they feed on crabs, clams, frogs and aquatic plants. They are distinctive animals, standing five feet tall, with white bodies, black wing tips and red crowns on their heads.

WCEP asks anyone who encounters a whooping crane in the wild to please give them the respect and distance they need. Do not approach birds on foot within 200 yards; try to remain in your vehicle; do not approach in a vehicle within 100 yards. Also, please remain concealed and do not speak loudly enough that the birds can hear you. Finally, do not trespass on private property in an attempt to view whooping cranes.

Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership founding members are the International Crane Foundation, Operation Migration Inc., Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and National Wildlife Health Center, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, and the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team.