Not only do we on the tracking team monitor the older birds and take care of the chicks at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, we also attempt to capture older birds on their wintering grounds to replace nonfunctional transmitters.  Earlier in the winter, we were able to replace transmitters on cranes #5-01 and #1-05, a pair that formed last spring in Necedah, and that we hope will have a nest this year.  Capturing adults is generally a very tiring and time consuming process.  However, there are certain circumstances that make captures short and painless.  Situations that may facilitate quick and easy captures include adults that are associating with a group of young birds--we were able to capture male #24-05 this way--and adults that frequent the pen sites on the Necedah NWR.  In Florida however, most of the cranes that have nonfunctional transmitters are utilizing large open ranches, or emergent ponds.  Besides #5-01 and #1-05, we were able to capture and replace transmitters on three other cranes this winter, and the story of our failures and successes are as follows.

Numbers 12-02 and 19-04 are a breeding pair of whooping cranes that usually nest and summer in Wood County, just north of Juneau County and the Necedah refuge.  In Florida, they use a large secluded area in Pasco County.  In fact, the entrance is guarded and security must let us in through the gate and then our name, vehicle type, and license number are written down.  From there, it is about a fifteen minute drive on mostly two-track roads to the birds’ location. 

On February 20th, Sara Zimorksi, ICF; Richard Urbanek, USFWS; Rosemary Hartman, ICF and I drove down to the ranch, a drive which takes an hour to an hour and a half from Crystal River, where Sara and I are living.  We headed out to see the birds.  They were in their usual spot, standing on the edge of a large pond with a couple of sandhill cranes.  Our capture attempt lasted five hours, but the birds would not cooperate, and the male especially was very skittish, prompting the female to follow as they continued to fly across the pond after letting us herd them to within 30 or 40 feet of where the leg noose lay waiting in the water.  Twice we were able to separate the female from the male, and she would allow me to approach within ten feet, but not close enough for me to grab her.  Again, when we neared the noose, she spooked, flying back to her mate.  For five hours we walked in our costumes and hip waders through water and vegetation ranging from ankle deep to up to our thighs, herding birds that could move much faster than us, and being frustrated every time they took off.  Finally we had to admit defeat, mostly because we had to get back so that some of us could go to the Chassahowitzka NWR pen site to do roost check.  Exhausted, frustrated, hungry and thirsty we left.  The birds were preening and, I like to think, gloating about their escape.  We drove back home for a twenty minute break before Richard and I headed out to the pen site.  Thankfully, the chicks behaved.

Because of the importance of our breeding pairs, we decided to try another capture attempt on #12-02 and #19-04 on March 4th.  We headed down to Pasco County, the same long drive.  Once we arrived, we put on our costumes and began to walk out to the cranes.  Rosemary and I stopped to hide behind a group of trees as Sara and Richard continued out to assess the situation.  The birds, no doubt realizing what was up, took off after only ten minutes and circled the pond, flying low over Rosemary and me as they tilted their heads to check us out.  They continued flying in circles, and then gradually began climbing higher and higher, becoming little specks in the sky, only visible when they turned and the sun glinted off of their pure white bodies.  We stood there in our costumes, gazing in the direction they left, thinking that they had begun migration. 

Nearby #12-02 and #19-04's wintering spot was the wintering area of male Direct Autumn Release birds #27-06 and #28-06.   Number 27-06's transmitter failed in the spring of 2008, and since we were so close to their location, we decided to give it a shot.  Luckily, the birds were on property that we already had permission to go on, and they were foraging in a cow pasture with a group of about ten sandhills.  As we watched, they flew across the pasture and out of sight.  Donning our costumes we headed through the pasture gate and across the field.  The sandhills flushed early, headed off to the east.  The herd of cattle, curious about what was invading their land, followed us at a distance.  Again, Rosemary and I stopped early and ducked down as Sara and Richard continued to the birds.  As we sat on the ground, the cattle partially surrounded us, staying ten to fifteen feet away.  Rosemary and I kept a watch on them, hoping that they didn't get too curious and decide to try to run us over. 

After a while, the novelty of large, white, people-shaped objects sitting in their pasture must have worn off, and the cattle slowly started to turn back to their food and water troughs.  Meanwhile, #27-06 and #28-06 flushed, flying south to a small pool.  Richard and Sara followed, and set up the leg noose on the edge of the water.  Number 28-06 kept walking into the center of the noose, but #27-06 remained outside.  After approximately three hours after we began, #27-06 finally stepped into the loop, and Richard quickly tightened it around his leg, trapping him.  Sara grabbed him as we put a hood over his head and set up to change his transmitter.  Number 28-06, momentarily spooked, flew a short distance, walked to within 50 meters of us, and then stood in the exact same spot, waiting for us to release his friend.  Rosemary stood between us and #28-06, shielding our activities from view.  Transmitter changed, I removed #27-06's hood as Sara set him on the ground.  He ran twenty feet away and ruffled his feathers as #28-06 quickly came to join him, and they left, walking across the pasture.  We gathered our equipment and headed back to our vehicles. 

After arriving home, we again had about a twenty minute break before Sara and I headed out to the Chassahowitzka NWR pen to do roost check.  Once in the blind, we began counting the birds in the pen to make sure they were all present.  Imagine our surprise when we counted a total of nine, two extra than we should have had!  I grabbed the spotting scope to look at leg bands to figure out who our mystery birds were.  It was #12-02 and #19-04!  They hadn't begun migration, and now we had an even better chance of capturing them!  We decided not to try anything that night, but rather would head out to the pen early on March 5th.  We watched the birds as the sun continued to get lower and lower in the sky.  The chicks didn't mind the adults hanging out in the pen until it approached roost time, and #4-08 began chasing the male of the pair until the other chicks joined in, and the adults flew out of the pen.  The chicks were still a little active because of the presence of the adults, so Sara and I headed out to stand with them for a while to help them settle down.  Numbers 12-02 and 19-04 briefly returned to the pen before flying back out to roost to the south.  We left the chicks roosting on the oyster bar and headed home after a fourteen hour day.

A half an hour before sunrise on March 5th, we all headed out to the pen site.  Numbers 12-02 and 19-04 were still there, and capturing them was so easy it was amazing to think that they were basically impossible to capture on their wintering grounds.  We replaced their transmitters and released them back into the pen.  The next day they began their migration back to Wisconsin. 

Update by Eva Szyszkoski, ICF Tracking Field Manager. Photos by Sara Zimorski, ICF Aviculturist. Top photo--numbers 12-02 and 19-04 at the Chassahowitzka NWR pen site. Bottom photo--numbers 12-02 and 19-04 with the chicks at the pen site.