Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 20/01) - Whooping crane biologists, ecologists and just plain bird watchers from all over North America flocked to Fort Smith last week to discuss the future of the endangered species.

The annual general meeting of the Whooping Crane Conservation Association was held last week in the area where the birds migrate each spring to lay their precious eggs.

Dr. Bill Fuller was studying the bison in Wood Buffalo Park in the mid-1950s and is credited for confirming the whooping crane nesting sites there.

He said the cranes used to nest in Saskatchewan up until the mid-1920s. The numbers had declined to only 16 birds in 1941 and various groups around North America were looking for nesting sites.

Fuller said the discovery of the nests in Wood Buffalo National Park were first made by a firefighting crew in 1954.

"The fire crews radioed in and said they saw these big white birds," Fuller said.

Once the helicopter had landed and unloaded the crew, Fuller and the pilot headed out to where the white birds were sighted.

"Sure enough they were whooping cranes," he recalled.

He notified Ottawa of the find and by the fall they began flights into the park to count the birds. Fuller said his final tally was 13, but wildlife officials didn't want to commit any funding to a larger project unless nesting areas were confirmed.

"In the spring I found four nests and then the wheels started turning," he said.

In 1967, Ernie Kuyt was a biologist working for the Canadian Wildlife Service, when he began the initial whooping crane recovery program working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Since I was the local joker on the scene, I was asked to develop the plan to remove eggs from the nesting areas," Kuyt said. "I received all kinds of useless instructions from Ottawa and set about the work."

When he had determined the nest locations and when the egg laying season was, he set about flying into the area by helicopter and retrieving one egg from each nest.

The American scientists had brought a special styrofoam box to transport the eggs and Kuyt worried about how he would keep his balance in the swamp carrying the big box. On the first flight, it didn't matter, because the box was left behind.

Anticipating wet feet, Kuyt had brought an extra pair of wool socks and decided they would hold the eggs nicely.

"When I was in the nest, I would put the egg in the sock and carry it like that; it worked so good, we never used that stupid box," he laughed.

The eggs were transported to the airport onboard a Canadian Air Force Falcon jet which flew the eggs to Washington, D.C.

Kuyt was given the Honour Award by the Whooping Crane Conservation Association in 1980 for his work to preserve the species, but takes little credit for his efforts.

"The birds did it all themselves, we just helped them along a little bit," he smiled.

With the efforts of these early conservationists, the numbers of whooping cranes have grown to about 225 in the wild and another 130 in captivity.

A second flock

In an attempt to bolster the population of whooping cranes with a second migrating flight, a recovery team will be training a flock to migrate from Wisconsin to Florida.

Joan Guilfoyle, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said 10 cranes -- which were hatched in captivity -- will be raised by humans in disguise for the new flock.

The white gowns have a puppet crane neck and head extending from the costume, but are not intended to look like cranes specifically. Mainly, they are intended to disguise the human form, so the birds will not associate food and care with humans.

"We are currently training 10 whooping cranes at a refuge in Wisconsin to follow ultralight aircraft," Guilfoyle said. "When they are confident they will do that successfully, then we will lead them from central Wisconsin to a refuge in Central Florida."

The birds are trained to think of the ultralight as a parental figure which they will follow

The 2,400-kilometre migration will be the longest human-led migration in history.

Once in Florida, the crew will break contact with the flock and they will be left to fend for themselves while the group monitors their activities through radio and satellite transmitters.

"Next spring, in theory, the birds will leave Florida on their own to migrate back to Wisconsin and begin to establish the second migratory flock," she said.