Personality and Training:

Notes from the captive breeding "hatchery" at Patuxent WRC in Maryland:
He was a good follower but then picked up the bad habit of mucking about for bugs and worms — which was probably more fun! Still, he is one of the GOOD birds. Even though #828 likes to do the "I'm bigger than you" game with the other birds in the youngest group, he causes no real problems. Barb says they see just the normal heiarchial interactions that normally occur in a group. As they prepared to leave for Wisconsin, he was not ready to give up challenging #829 to be the dominant bird in this group and he could still be "pecky."

Notes from "flight school in Wisconsin:
Arrived at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge July 29 in cohort 3, the youngest group in the Class of 2008. He sometimes stands up to #829, the "king" in this group, but #828 always backs down and slinks away from this more dominant bird. He weighed 4.7 kg at his pre-migration health check. Heather calls him part of the “Zoo Posse” because the egg he hatched from comes from the Calgary Zoo (along with 827, 829 & 830) and they’re all nearly the same age.

First Migration South: Chick #828 left Necedah NWR for his first migration on October 17, 2008. He proved to be a strong flier! Find day-by-day news about the flock's migration and read more about #828 below.

November 21, Day 36: Crane #828 and 12 others flew with Brooke over the Twin Groves wind farm with no problems at 2,000 feet altitude. They flew 114 miles! Today's lead pilot Brooke summed it up: "I don’t know if it was my imagination or what, but I swear our birds looked as proud of themselves as we were of them. They had been in the air 2 hours and 20 minutes, withstood teen temperatures the whole flight, and performed beyond our greatest expectations."

Photo Joe Duff, Operation Migration

January 9, Day 74: After being grounded for 9 days in a row, #828 was one of the seven dropouts when they left Chilton County, Alabama. He was crated and driven for the second (Day 57) time during this migration.

January 17, Day 82: Migration to St. Marks NWR Complete (cranes 805, 812, 813, 826, 828, 829 and 830)!

Spring 2009 First Unaided Migration North: All seven juveniles in the St. Marks cohort started their migration north on March 30! Second-hand reports say that the group took to the air, found a thermal, and were gone on the wind as wild cranes fly. Bev and Brooke jumped in the tracking van to see if they could track them for a while but they lost signal at some point. On March 31 a PTT reading from #813 put her in Chambers County, Alabama. The other six stayed together and were reported April 5 in a flooded corn field southwest of Chicago, Illinois. Crane 826 somehow became injured and was rescued by an uncostumed person and taken for medical care, while #828 and the other four cranes remained together in the area at least until April 7. (See photo) On April 16, crane #828 and his remaining buddies arrived back at Wisconsin's Necedah NWR—migration complete!

Crane #828 spent much of the summer with buddies #824, 827, and 830, as well as with #805 and 812 in nearby Dodge County, WI. He (with 824, 827, and 830) left that location and on September 18 the four were reported near Horicon NWR in Dodge County. By late October/early November they had been joined by 804, 814, and 818 to make a group of seven. These seven were a mix of birds who had spent the winter at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and birds who’d spent the winter at Chassahowitzka NWR. This group remained together in Dodge County through the last check on December 4.

Fall 2009: Crane 828 was in the group of seven (see just above) who moved to Dodge County, WI in late fall and stayed through at least December 4. None of these birds were seen or heard from again until the evening of December 12 when #828 turned up by himself at the Hiwassee State Refuge in Tennessee! Hiwassee is a great place for cranes and a popular stop over and wintering area for thousands of Sandhills and a number of our Whooping Cranes, but trackers were surprised when #828 was there. Why? He was led south on the new, more westerly ultralight route the previous fall, so he had never been to Hiwassee before. Also he was there by himself, having separated from the other 6 birds he’d been with for more than 2 months. ICF's Sara said, "We were glad to know where he was, but a bit puzzled about how and why he got there and also curious where the remaining 6 birds were." (Safe and sound, they turned up on January 8 at Chassahowitzka NWR. The group of 6 consisted of all 5 surviving Chassahowitzka NWR birds from last year and one bird from St. Marks NWR.) Now the question is: Will #828 stay at Hiwassee in Tennessee for the winter, or will he continue on to Florida? How do YOU think he found his way there?