Patuxent's Whooping Crane Chick Reports

The Patuxent whooper web page started by following the hatching and life of a young chick every day for two weeks. After that, we charted the progress of the chick every 2 weeks, then, when the chick was grown and had been sent to the non-migratory flock in Florida, we went to monthly Whooper Reports. You can still review the web pages, below, showing the progress of the chick we followed during the Spring of 2000. They are listed in the sequential order as they were posted. 

Hatch Day Minus 4 — Countdown to hatching. In 4 days this egg becomes a whooping crane. Cool facts about whooper eggs. This was the very first web page posted for the whooper reports. 4/27/2000

Hatch Day Minus 3 — Countdown to hatching. In 3 days this egg becomes a whooping crane. More cool facts about whooper eggs, plus a sound file that lets you can hear the crane chick peeping inside the egg. 4/28/2000

Hatch Day Minus 2 — Countdown to hatching. In 2 days this egg becomes a whooping crane. Cool facts. More cool facts about whooper eggs, plus a sound file that lets you can hear the crane chick peeping inside the egg. 4/29/2000

Hatch Day Minus 1 — Countdown to hatching. In 1 day this egg becomes a whooping crane. More cool facts about whooper eggs. 4/30/2000

Our chick is almost out. The chick is hatching today. Cool facts about newly hatched chicks. 5/1/2000

WHOOPING CRANE CHICK: DAY 01. OUR CHICK HAS HATCHED! Cool facts about the parents of our chick. 5/2/2000

Whooping Crane Chick: Day 02. Not yet walking. Cool facts about how we teach the chick to eat and drink. 5/3/2000

Whooping Crane Chick: Day 03. Learning to eat and drink. Cool facts about how whooper parents teach their chick to eat and drink. 5/4/2000

Whooping Crane Chick: Day 04. Gaining weight as the chick grows. Getting to know the live whooper imprinting model. Cool facts about the imprinting model. 5/5/2000

Whooping Crane Chick: Day 05. Going outside for the first time. Cool facts about how to determine the chick's sex. 5/6/2000

Whooping Crane Chick: Day 06. Our chick's grandparents: Canus & mate. Canus is the oldest whooper at Patuxent. Cool facts about feather color and how it will change. 5/7/2000

Whooping Crane Chick: Day 07. Medical care for whooper chicks. Cool facts about why we weigh the chicks daily. Our chick has a name! Patuxent or "Tux" for short. 5/8/2000

Whooping Crane Chick: Day 08. Talking chicks for walks for exercise. Cool facts about exercise and how it helps the chicks grow. 5/9/2000

Whooping Crane Chick: Day 09. Swimming the chicks for exercise. Cool facts about exercise and how it helps the chicks grow. 5/10/2000

Daily care in the crane chick building. Cool facts about what happens when crane chicks get sick or injured. 5/11/2000

Taking the chicks to a small marsh. Cool facts about how we condition the chicks for release into the wild. 5/12/2000

Parent-rearing whooper chicks; letting whooper adults raise the chicks. Cool facts about parent-rearing and proper imprinting. 5/13/2000

Captive-raised whoopers raise chicks in Florida in the wild. Operation Migration uses Patuxent sandhills to experiment with training cranes to migrate behind ultralight aircraft. Cool facts about how we use sandhill cranes as surrogates for the whooping crane. 5/14/2000

Last day of daily coverage of Patuxent's development. But reports will continue on the chick's progress and on other aspects of whooper work at Patuxent. We introduce the staff. Cool facts about what we project for Tux's future. 5/15/2000

Patuxent at 30 days — Tux is 30 days old. How we deal with crooked toes, and angel wing problems. Cool facts about how dangerous leg problems are to a growing crane chick. 6/1/00

Patuxent at 45 days — more information on parent-rearing; how we manage the care of growing parent-reared chicks. Cool facts about parent-rearing at Patuxent. 6/15/2000

Patuxent at 66 days—information on the non-migratory flock in Florida, including pictures of parents with a chick. Cool facts about the non-migratory flock, how many there are, and their nesting activities.  7/6/2000

Patuxent at 91 days. Getting the chicks used to large ponds and roosting in water at night. Cool facts about why it's important for the chicks to learn to roost in deep water. 7/27/2000

Patuxent's Whooper Reports

Every 4-6 weeks Patuxent posts a new web page on some aspect of our work with whoopers. The web page started by following the hatching and life of a young chick every day for two weeks (Whooping Crane Chick Reports). After that, we charted the progress of the chick every 2 weeks, then, when the chick was grown and had been sent to the non-migratory flock in Florida, we went to the following monthly reports. They are listed in sequential order as they were posted. Our Current Report can be found here.

Whooping Crane Report #1: The Mississippi Sandhill Crane. Information and pictures about this very endangered crane and the refuge it lives on. Cool facts about Mississippi sandhill chicks. 10/19/00 

Whooping Crane Report #2: The Patuxent chicks prepare for Florida, Part 1. "Tux" and the rest of his cohort will soon be sent to Florida. Before that happens, they must go through a strict medical procedure. Quarantine, Part 1. Cool facts about health issues involving captive-produced birds released into the wild. 11/29/2000

Whooping Crane Report #3: The Patuxent chicks prepare for Florida, Part 2. More information about medical tests and other procedures as the staff gets the birds ready to go to Florida. Quarantine, Part 2. Cool facts about the different color changes the chicks go through as they grow toward adulthood.  1/10/01

Whooping Crane Report #4: The Patuxent chicks are shipped to Florida. Pictures and information on the process of transferring the birds to Florida for release. Cool facts about the release program: how many birds, major predator problems, and genetic diversity issues.  2/14/01

Whooping Crane Report #5: Another Whooper breeding season begins. Pictures and information on what we hope to accomplish this breeding season, and how we measure our success. Cool facts about the last wild flock of whoopers and research work being done at Patuxent.  3/12/01

Whooping Crane Report #6: The breeding pairs: Spike and Shelly. Pictures and information on our most productive Whooping Crane breeding pair. Cool facts from the 2001 breeding season report.  4/18/01.

Whooping Crane Report #7: The chick's eye view: life from the viewpoint of the chick. Getting down to the chick's level. More cool facts from the 2001 breeding season report.  5/10/01.

Whooping Crane Report #8: The first of our whooper chick videos.  We add streaming video to the website. 6/7/01.

Whooping Crane Report #9: Exercising the chicks. New crane video: taking the chicks for walks for daily exercise. 6/28/01.   

Whooping Crane Report #10: The Whooping Crane Reintroduction Event. New crane video: Whooper Pre-Flight Training. Information about an event that publicized the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) and the whooper migration project. Links to our partners.  7/26/01

Whooping Crane Report #11: Environmental Enrichment: Keeping Whoopers Happy. New crane video: feeding smelt to the breeding colony. 8/23/01

Whooping Crane Report #12: The Dance. See new crane videos of the whoopers dancing!  9/27/01. 

Whooping Crane Report #13: The Breeding Pairs: Laz and Alta. Meet Laz and Alta, Patuxent's first naturally fertile pair. 11/01/01

Whooping Crane Report #14: Project Updates: The Whoopers Fly all the Way Home! The first class of WCEP's migratory whooper chicks successfully arrives in Florida behind ultra-light aircraft. Also: updates on the progress of the experimental non-migratory flock. 12/6/01

Whooping Crane Report #15: Who Decides What's Best for the Birds? The captive management meetings.  Links to our partners. 1/31/02.

Whooping Crane Report #16: The Complicated Life of a Patuxent Whooper Egg. Egg management. 3/14/02

Whooping Crane Report #17: Chick Season 2002 Begins! The first chicks of the year are being trained for the WCEP project. 5/2/02

Whooping Crane Report #18:Another Whooping Crane Milestone! Wild Whooper Fledges in Florida! New videos. 6/13/02

Whooping Crane Report #19:Whooper Chicks Fly to Wisconsin—With Help from a Private Jet! Seventeen chicks are sent from Patuxent to become part of the WCEP project. 8/1/02.

Whooping Crane Report #20:WWW = World Wide Whoopers! Finding whooper links on the web. 9/12/02.

Whooping Crane Report #21:The Breeding Pairs: Kate and Ernie. Meet Kate and Ernie, one of Patuxent's well-established breeding pairs. Also: updates on the chicks in Wisconsin and Florida. 10/17/02.

Whooping Crane Report #22:Another Successful Migration! The second WCEP migration is completed as the chicks arrive in Florida. Links to our WCEP partners. 12/12/02.

Whooping Crane Report #23: Remembering Canus, 1964-2003. Canus, our foundation sire and the first whooper to come to Patuxent, passes away. We honor his life and legacy. 1/30/03

Whooping Crane Report #24: Remembering Bruce. We remember Bruce Williams, part of Patuxent's family for nearly 40 years, and his many contributions to the crane program. 3/6/03.

Whooping Crane Report #25: Egg Transfer from the San Antonio Zoo to Patuxent. Whooper eggs produced at the San Antonio Zoo are brought to Patuxent, where the chicks will be raised to be part of the WCEP migratory project. 5/8/03.

Whooping Crane Report #26: Whooper chicks—growing up fast! This year's WCEP chicks are growing up and getting trained for this year's migration. Also: Florida update, Wisconsin update, and breeding season updates on the Patuxent colony. 6/12/03.

Whooping Crane Report #27: Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership GRADUATING CLASS of 2003! Meet the WCEP chicks who'll be part of this year's migratory flock. Also: Florida update. 7/24/03.