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More news about Crane #355



Jonathan Mays of Waynesville kindly brought Jeff Lllewellyn and me up to
date on Crane #355.  I thought Carolinabirds subscribers would be
interested in this saga of the captive-raised bird that has acquired a wild
mate.  Here's Jonathan's message, followed by additional information.

Len Pardue, Asheville, NC


        The pair of Sandhill Cranes has been hanging around Lake Junaluska
for about a month and a half now.  They were first noted/reported by a
Waynesville resident, Susan Roberts.  Don Hendershot tracked down the info
I've pasted below...it's a response from Susan MacGillis with Hawk Ridge
Wildlife Center in Ohio.  Incidentally, there are two cranes with #355
bands, however, as Jeff noticed, the one at Lake J has the 2nd pink band. 
The USGS website has a place to report banded birds.  Hope you enjoy!

   Best regards,
        JDM
 __________________

 Jonathan Mays
 Waynesville, NC
 USA
 JD@Flittermouse.org
 __________________

 >from Susan MacGillis's email addressed to Don Hendershot:

 I found my file on Operation Migration.  The small amount of info I have
 deals with their first experiment in trying to teach sandhills to migrate by
 following an ultralight aircraft.  The first group of birds were banded with
 numbers in the 200's.  Although they claim this first experiment was a
 success, I don't agree.  Fourteen birds followed the ultralight south and 7
 did return to Ontario the following spring.  However all 14 birds had to be
 placed in captive situations as they were terribly imprinted.

 The birds were raised in a chainlinked enclosure.  Some of the people
 feeding the birds wore baseball caps.  They followed an ultralight to
 Virginia, Fall 1997.  They were overwintered in a chainlinked enclosure in
 Virginia.  When they were released in Spring 1998, all the birds ended up in
 schoolyards or chainlinked areas.  We picked up #209 from a baseball game.
 He wouldn't leave the diamond.  He was attracted to the chainlink backstop
 and the boys in baseball caps.  I have never seen a more imprinted bird.

 I contacted O.M. for advice and they told me they didn't care what I did
 with him.  Just to go ahead and release him.  We and our Division of
 Wildlife strongly disagreed with them.  No. 209 was placed in a captive
 situation.

 Spring of 1998, #355 and 5 other cranes were hatched at Patuxent and raised
 by O.M.  The only change made was the chainlink was covered with camouflage
 canvas.  Fall 1998, #355 and his group were trucked to within 100 miles of
 South Carolina.  They followed an ultralight aircraft the last 100 miles.
 They were kept in an enclosure Winter1998-99.  When set free Spring 1999,
 they refused to migrate.  O.M. gave up all responsibility for the birds
 Summer 1999 (per email to me from Heather Ray of O.M.)  Dr. Ellis assumed
 responsibility for the birds and holds the permits.  Summer 1999, Dr. Ellis
 trucked the birds to Iroquois NWR in western NY.

 No. 355 and his group never migrated south.  They have been sighted in NY,
 PA and western OH.

 No. 355 showed up at Sandy Ridge Reservation, a 600 acre wetlands, in N.
 Ridgeville, OH Summer 2001.  He arrived with a wild mate.  As sandhills are
 state endangered in OH, birders came from all over to see the pair.  No. 355
 came right up to visitors on the path and (Ugh!) visitors started
 handfeeding them.  The park staff put an end to that and educated visitors
 to keep their distance from the bird.  Visitors did respect the pair after
 that.  His wild mate was leery of people, but she would follow him as he
 followed people down the path.

 The birds did not migrate Fall, 2001.  They stayed at Sandy Ridge all winter
 and at least until November 2002.  They never bred.

 I saw them myself along the berm of a state route that borders the south of
 the park late November 2002.  I was worried that they would get hit by a
 semi.  I put in a call to the park to get the last date they were seen there
 and left a message.

 Thank you and Susan Roberts so much for contacting me!  I am so pleased that
 they finally migrated. I personally believe the migration had to be the idea
 of the wild female.  I will share this info with our audubon group.

 I hope they will return in the spring and breed at Sandy Ridge.  Sandy Ridge
 has other state endangered waterfowl breeding there each summer.
 It is a fantastic place.

 Here is O.M.'s email -
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CFBlist/post?protectID=16515401400922913522716810
9004147223071026057192209>opmig@durham.net.  Can't find their website
address.
 I understand that after these two groups, the 200's and 300's were so
 imprinted, the USFWS took over the project.  O.M. still participates along
 with a number of other wildlife organizations.

 Visit our website at www.hawkridgewildlife.org.  No. 209 is pictured in the
 History section after the narrative.  The Current Patients section is not up
 to date.  We were hit had by West Nile in August.  In one week along we
 received around 30 calls concerning sick and dying raptors.  We were
 physically, emotionally and financially drained.  The website was put aside.
   Our hard work paid off and most birds recovered and were released.  It
 took months for each bird to recover and we still have three great horneds
 recovering.

 Thanks again,

 Susan MacGillis
 Director
 Hawk Ridge Wildlife Center
 P. O. Box 39081
 N. Ridgeville, OH  44039-0081

 Number 355 was part of a group of 6 sandhills used in the second experiment.
   Number 355 was hatched from an egg at Patuxent and raised by O.M. in
 Ontario.