Whooping Cranes detour to Chicago suburbs to return to Wisconsin

An adolescent whooping crane is safely exploring Horizon Marsh after being veered off course on its first independent migration north.

On Tuesday morning, local birders in a residential neighborhood in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette reported the young endangered crane, identified as “16-23,” or “Animal.”

The International Crane Foundation, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, veterinarians and volunteers all assisted in bringing the missing cranes back to Wisconsin.

Anne Lacy, director of the International Crane Foundation’s Eastern North American Flyway Program, said it’s great that everything went well.

Civilians step in to assist

Tamima Itani saw a post on social media Tuesday morning about a whooping crane wandering the streets of Wilmette. She is familiar with bird conservation as a member of the Chicago Ornithological Society and chief volunteer coordinator for the Chicago Piping Plovers. She drove quickly for five minutes to help monitor the crane before authorities arrived.

She just stood there. She didn’t do much. Itani said she looked beautiful and very peaceful under a tree.

The International Crane Foundation is part of a partnership trying to rebuild wild crane populations. These endangered birds are raised in captivity when they are young by staff dressed in crane suits. These garments prevent the baby birds from over-acclimating to humans before being released into the wild.

According to Lacey, Hillary Thompson of the International Crane Foundation arrived, put on a costume and lured the crane over with a green grape. Thompson carefully picked her up and covered the bird’s eyes to calm her down. A veterinarian performed a health check before the new transmitter was affixed to the crane legs and shipped to Wisconsin.

Back in Baraboo, Lacey is organizing the appropriate permits to transport the crane across state lines.

She had to get an Uber to get back to Horizon. But now that she’s there, she can move around and when she sees other whooping cranes, she recognizes them, Lacey said.

Where does she come from?

The crane was migrating from Indiana to Wisconsin for the winter.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is developing a whooping crane recovery plan. The ultimate goal is to recover the whooping crane and remove it from the endangered species list.

The International Crane Foundation estimates that the total number of this species worldwide is only 831.

There were once more than 10,000 whooping cranes in North America. The population decline is primarily due to hunting and habitat destruction.

The foundation is replenishing Wisconsin’s whooping crane population in hopes that the birds will be able to nest and become self-sustaining in the wild. Until then, they will be housed in captivity with adult cranes. They are released into wetlands and learn migration routes from older cranes.

Lacey said this whooping crane project in particular has a real affinity for it.

The crane found in Chicago was born and raised in captivity last summer. Last fall, she was released into the flat marsh along with five other whooping cranes through a fall direct release event.

This is the first time a bird has migrated north alone.

Itani said helping was a no-brainer.

Every individual in a population is extremely valuable. Itani said it’s important to make sure everyone survives to the best of our ability.

Why is she lost?

Lacey said it’s not known exactly why the crane separated from her companion and landed in a residential yard. The crane may be tired, hungry, or lost.

Lacey said it’s unsafe to link events like this to larger trends like climate change or human encroachment. But, she added, dodging planes and communications towers can add danger to migrating animals.

Lacey said the eastern United States is dominated by humans and they are overcoming some very big risks.

On Tuesday night, the crane was released back into the flat marsh to reacquaint itself with its surroundings.

She (is) flying around. She tasted the water. Lacey said she smelled the smell in the air and thought, OK, yeah, this is familiar.

Lacey said there’s no way to stop migrating cranes from veering off course, but she said her team has developed the skills so everyone is prepared in case it happens again.

Lacey said the alarm from local residents was the beginning of this happy ending.