Roquefort the crane

I got to name a crane Roquefort!










Here he is making that cute whiiirring contact call.

Tracking Wild Cranes

Yuppers! I finally got to go out on my own to track down wild cranes. I'm walking through Juneau Forest a this point, hauling: camera, notepad, pen, receiver, antenna, scope, and don't forget, steel-toed hip waders!

I definitely needed the hip waders. I was sent out on my own to track this nest, so I started out going directly south of the nest (yes, those were the directions. other directions included, follow the trail until the big puddle and the downed tree :/... anyway...). Directly south of the nest is a series of marshes separated by lines of trees. I quickly discovered that walking through woods is much faster than wading through marsh. Why is there so much downed wood underneath the water!?!

I had to keep reminding myself that I wanted to do this. I wanted to do this. check compass... shit! how did north get to be that way??? Is the compass wrong? no, it can't be wrong. Great, now my phone's dead, and I'm potentially lost in the woods. I wanted to do this.

There were waaay to many mosquitoes. I wasn't armed with bug spray this weekend, but I managed to escape with few bites and no ticks (so far...).

I have to say. I LOVED it! I loved every minute of that grueling hike.

Here are some pics from this weekend!

Got my gear.












Got my boots.








Hiked through all kinds of sludge.












Got the money shot, can you see the bird?









This is a great photo of this nest taken from the Ultralight that flew over earlier in the day!!!







Below is a video of the receiver picking up a signal from one of the bird's transmitters in the field. You can't see the bird at the time of the vid, but she's there, probably low in the grass, brooding her chick. This was what it was like out there (with a whole lot more swarming mosquitoes you can't see).

Chicks in the yard

I thought I'd post a pic of Nacho going-to-town on some wild irises. I guess they are like crack. When he sees one, he chirps like a squeal of delight, then starts screaming out that little whiiirrr!! while he rips the flower to shreds, savoring every last purple petal.


the picture is grey because I took it behind the costume's screen mask. Feel free to click to enlarge.

Intro to Necedah

The 4 hours between these 2 photos held rains and storms.





This weekend I took a trip to Necedah. Dr. Urbanek gave me an introductory tour, trained me on how to observe the wild cranes, and showed me what to record while I observe them.









So far there is one pair of cranes on the Wildlife Refuge (the Refuge is what I mean when I say I went to Necedah) who have 2 baby cranes. I actually got to see the babies at one point in my observations! They were so far away, they were little brown blobs in the microscope, but I definitely saw them!


I also saw lots of Sandhill Cranes, swans, Canada Geese, deer, ducks... well you get the picture. Since I was observing from a public observation tower, I wonder how many visitors who go up there actually know they can see a whooping crane from that vantage point. If I was to go up there, I would never have known.



This is a wild Sandhill Crane on the plains. A whooping crane had been foraging around that scraggly tree you see in the picture not 5 minutes earlier.






There's a dam that creates the wetlands.












Richard, my boss (pictured below), took me to see the dam.















Part of his job is to make sure the water level doesn't move too high or too low, so he opened the grates, and pulled up some of the heavy railroad ties they use to block up the water (pictured below)

















I'll leave you with a few more pictures of the whooping cranes from my scope (sorry they are so blurry).

Crane-baby Exercise!

Yes, we have a swimming pool for the chicks. That's me in the costume, encouraging little Nacho to swim faster.










They make little contact calls while in the pool (the same calls they make when they are being fed). It kinda sounds like a little "whiiirrr". It let's me know they are happy, and feel safe.










We reward them for all their efforts during the exercise, but the ultimate reward is the proper development of the chick's legs.

Still being a crane

Walk outside, summon baby to follow.
We emerge from the sand into bright sunlight and fresh grass.

I scope for bugs and edible plants,
the baby beelines for the pond.
I summon louder for the baby. We're not going that way!
we're going to find bugs!

Found a moth! Snap!
shit...
snap Snap! Take it to the baby.

I preen a little while he's eating, watch the sky and scout for more moths.
It's hot, must be time to go to the pond...

I walk stately towards the pond,
He runs, wings open, mouth agape, almost tripping over his feet

I forage in the water, he swims.
I forage some more, he goes to shore to forage.

the other crane watches. I watch her
and she notices. She begins to dance,
wings open, bobbing her head, asking me to join her in her dance.

I sadly pass. and purr to the baby to come back inside.

Being a Crane

So now that I am a crane "mommy," I can tell you what it's like behind the costume.

Yes, it's hot under the white burka, but not as hot as you'd expect. Sometimes there's a nice breeze that will cut through the mesh that hides my face, and it's so cool. It smells good like nature and cut grass. We wear rubber boots so that we can wade into the pond and encourage the chicks to go swimming. The rubber boots get hot in the sun, but when we get a chance to wade in the pond, the cool water presses in around our feet. The bottom of the burka gets a little wet, but it hasn't wicked up past my knees, yet.

The time I spend as a crane is mostly quiet time. I may have to communicate by hushed whisper with other crane mommies at times. Sometimes I lead the chicks near Faith's yard. Faith is a real crane, and she's so good with the babies. She purrs to them, and I hear them chirrup back. Today, I saw Pepper Jack look at Faith, then back to me, then back to Faith....

I moved along, so he followed me. I know it won't be long before he decides not to follow me. They have such different personalities. Nacho (the oldest) is a little obnoxious, and a little bit whiney. He has never really liked following the costume, he never really liked swimming, he doesn't seem to like trying new things. However, I caught him a June bug today, and he seemed very interested in trying to eat it.

Pepper Jack, however, has been a little charmer. He eats with enthusiasm, he's always trying new things, he'll swim circles around me, foraging in the water as he cheeps happily away. It's fun to watch.

I try to watch, but sometimes it's hard because the little square of mesh doesn't always line up with where I want to see. I have to watch where I step, you never know if the little guy has scooted under you. Many times have I performed the "crazy crane mommy," where I use my left hand underneath my costume to adjust the hood. There's also a pocket in the front where we have a recorder that plays brood calls. I'll increase the volume of the brood call to summon them, or decrease the volume of the call when we're just playing in the grass. Moving my hand around in the pocket doesn't look very crane-like, i'm sure.

One thing I do know for sure. We have faith convinced we're real cranes. She tried to solicit me this afternoon.