WHOOPING CRANE GLOSSARY Teacher Tip: Building Students' Vocabulary with Journey North adaptation A physical or behavioral feature that evolved in response to an organism's environment, due to pressures for survival. Adaptations for survival include how a species looks (its anatomy and morphology) as well as how it behaves (how it moves, obtains food, reproduces, responds to danger, etc.). See Adaptations That Help Whooping Cranes Survive. air pickup The ultralight pilot picks up the birds by simply flying low past their enclosure as handlers throw the gates open so the cranes stampede out and take off after the ultralight. This thrilling pickup happens more often when the cranes are advanced in their training and used to flying all together. It helps save time, but it takes skill from both the pilots and birds. The usual pickup method is for a pilot to fly the ultralight from a nearby hangar, airport, or other overnight spot and taxi into position outside the enclosure's gate. The handlers then open the doors and the birds rush onto the grass strip and take off after the aircraft. Sometimes the birds are off the ground before the ultralight. Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (Uh RAN zus) The area in Texas where the main flock of migrating cranes spends each summer breeding and nesting season biodiversity The variety of life in all its forms, levels and combinations, including ecosstem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity A Whooping crane feather Photo Cindy Loken blood feathers The term for a certain stage of feather growth: the new feathers just growing in. At this time the quill is filled with blood vessels and pulp with nutrients needed for growing the feathers out. When the feather gets to full size, the blood vessls shrink up and the quill becomes hollow. blood siblings Chicks that have the same genetic parents. In nature, there are usually little things that keep nest mates from selecting each other as mates, and then the young disperse — making it much less likely that they'll select a blood sibling in subsequent years. In captive breeding, blood siblings happen because the experts control the breeding and they have so few whooping cranes to pair. captive breeding When members of a wild species are captured, then bred and raised in a special facility under the care of wildlife experts Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge (Chassahowitzka NWR) (CHAZ uh how ITZ kuh) the refuge in Florida where the new Eastern migratory flock of Whooping cranes spend their winter feeding season cohort A small group of cranes that lives and migrates together. Also, a small group of chicks close in age, who are together for flight training in the Whooping crane reintroduction project. colt An older chick, but still in its first year of life contact call (brood call) Purring sound made by an adult crane to tell chicks, "It's okay, follow me, I'm here." Direct Autumn Release (DAR) The autumn release of captive-bred, costume-reared whooping crane chicks into the Eastern flock of whooping cranes at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin, in hopes that the chicks will follow the wild adults on fall migration. That's how they'll learn their migration route to Florida. endangered A species with low enough numbers that it's in danger of dying out and becoming extinct extirpated Gone from a region. Whooping cranes were extirpated from eastern North America for over a century. In 2001, WCEP's project to reintroduce them began. fledge to have developed/grown all the flight feathers necessary for flying; to fly GPS (Global Positioning System) A worldwide radio-navigation system made of a network of government-controlled satellites and their ground stations. The system uses these "man-made stars" as reference points to calculate and pinpoint a radio receiver's position in latitude, longitude and altitude. A GPS device helps the ultralight pilots by showing the plane's exact location on the planet when they're flying, and the speed at which they are covering ground. The pilots can then tell how long they have to go before reaching their destination so they'll know if the birds will likely be able to do it--or if they'll get too tired to go the distance. flying in ground effect Photo Operation Migration ground effect The name for the chicks' first low flying attempts. In ground effect flight the wings catch enough air to get the bird a few feet off the ground. It's easier to fly when closer to the ground because the bird can more easily compress the air under its wings when the ground is near. (Flight is achieved by increased air pressure below the wing working against decreased pressure above it.) habitat The place where an organism lives and the conditions of that environment. including the soil, vegetation, water, and food. (Habitats provide the necessary food, water, cover and space.) headwind A wind that is coming from the opposite direction in which the cranes and ultralight are flying; they are flying into the wind, so it slows them down. HY Abbreviation for hatch year. For example: HY 2005 stands for whooping crane chicks hatched in 2005. Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) A viral disease that appeared in the Florida nonmigratory flock in 2002 and in the Aransas/Wood Buffalo flock (Western flock) in 2008-09. (The bursa is a lymphatic sac.) juvenile A young Whooping crane, between the ages of one and two years juvenal The first plumage a bird acquires after it loses the plumage it has in the nest. (Not to be confused with juvenile, pertaining to age and meaning sub-adult ) migrate To travel seasonally from one place for feeding to a more favorable place for breeding and nesting Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (Necedah NWR) (Nuh SEE duh) The area in Wisconsin where the new Eastern flock of migrating Whooping cranes spend summer breeding and nesting season Non-essential Experimental Population (NEP) A special category within the endangered species of whooping cranes, just for the ultralight-led whoopers. This federal NEP rule was necessary to carry out the Whooping Crane Eastern Reintroduction because the migration project has many risks and no guarantees. The cranes in the project cannot considered essential to survival of the species, and their status is threatened rather than endangered. BUT if any of the Eastern cranes venture outside of certain listed areas after they're wild and free, they once again have endangered status. Any land whooping cranes inhabit becomes endangered species habitat, which makes that land subject to government rules, even on privately owned land. This could create many problems for landowners and cranes. Twenty possible dispersal States/Provinces are included in the NEP plan: the main flyway States of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida, as well as the neighboring states, and the two Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. Nonmigratory flock (Florida) A reintroduced flock started in 1993 that lives year-round in central Florida and does NOT migrate. This flock was part of the long-range plan to increase the numbers of the endangered Whooping crane species. A total of 289 chicks were released between 1993 and winter 2004-05, but no more chicks will be released into this flock. Their numbers had dwindled to only 29 (as of Oct. 2009), due mainly to problems with predation and reproduction, complicated by drought. Besides the scarcity of birds to release and the cost of the project, the birds had shorter than expected life spans and their habitat was shrinking because of human takeovers for development. Biologists from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) continue to study the surviving cranes. A chick is pipping. See its beak emerging? Photo WCEP pipping Breaking the eggshell to start the hatching process pecking order The social dominance structure or social hierarchy among animals. Leaders and followers. primary feathers The black feathers on a whooper's wing tips. They are necessary for flight. Primary feathers are big and extra strong to catch air. They have specially shaped barbs that help keep the feathers from being driven apart by wind. This makes them suitable for high-speed travel. They must be strong because they get the most wear and tear during flight. More. protocol The strict set of rules by which the young captive-bred cranes are raised and trained so they don't imprint on humans PTT Platform Transmitter Terminal, or satellite tracking device that can be worn/carried by an animal so its position is known radio telemetry Radio-tracking of whooping cranes who wear the tracking devices on a leg band with antenna Rocky Mountain Flock This experiment to establish a Whooping crane population in the Rocky Mountain area began when several Whooping crane eggs were transferred into the nests of sandhill cranes between 1975 and 1989. The sandhill cranes raised the hatched Whooping cranes as their own. In 2000, just two Whooping cranes were left after an 18-year-old female was found dead on March 15, 2000, after it collided with an electrical powerline at Monte Vista NWR. Zero surviving Whooping cranes today. roost A safe place for a crane to spend the night; also, roosting is sleeping at night refuge A region of government-protected habitat for wildlife reintroduction A plan to bring back, or reintroduce, Whooping cranes in part of their former range where they have been extirpated subadult A Whooping crane aged two to four years, not yet breeding age. Subadult plumage and markings of subadults are identical to adults. Once cranes reach about 18 months of age, all their adult feathers have come in and they look the same as the breeding adults. You have to make a guess and try to differentiate between subadults and adults by group size and behaviors. supplemental release technique An additional (supplemental) plan to reintroduce whooper chicks besides leading them with an ultralight plane. The chicks will be conditioned and trained to the ultralight. But instead of following the plane on their first journey south, some will be released among older "ultracranes" to join up and follow them on the first journey south. They will learn their migration route from the older birds, even though the birds aren't their parents. Due to special circumstances, this was first tried in fall 2004 with chick #418 (see biography). The practice was renamed Direct Autumn Release (DAR) in 2005 with five chicks scheduled to participate in what will become an annual practice until the numbers of the new Eastern flock reach goal. Photo Joe Duff sweet spot The position nearest the wing, where a crane gets the most benefit from the air flowing off the wing. The crane can soar on that air current instead of flapping its wings, so it's a "sweet spot" for any bird to fly there. tailwind A wind that is blowing in the same direction as the ultralight and birds are flying; a wind that helps "push" them along from behind thermal A rising swirl of warm air that birds can glide or soar on Trike. Photo OM trike A short name for an ultralight airplane twins Chick pairs. The term for two whooping crane siblings hatched from the same clutch of eggs, usually one day apart. ultralight A simple, small, open airplane that weighs about 350 pounds and can fly at "crane speed" (35 mph and faster) unison call The sequence of calls made by a male and female with a pairbond Voiceprint Recording and sonogram of an individual Whooping crane's voice, which is unique and can identify the bird vortex a current or "wake" of air created by the wing of the ultralight in flight WCEP (say "WEE sep") Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership: the government, public and private organizations working together to reintroduce whooping cranes to eastern North America Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) The wilderness area in northern Canada where the main flock of Whooping cranes spends the summer breeding and nesting season. See a student's answer telling how whooping cranes were discovered there.   This Season Teachers Kids Orientation Registration Search Copyright 1997-2009 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Questions or comments? Contact us.