Guest Article: The Return of Wheeler’s Cranes & Ways to Give a Whoop!
The International Crane Foundation is back in Alabama, and with them comes the return of Wheeler’s Sandhill Cranes and Whooping Cranes. My name is Olivia Burkholz, and this winter season I am representing the International Crane Foundation in Alabama. As the Outreach Program Assistant, I provide crane programming to groups of all ages and backgrounds throughout North Alabama!
The cranes have slowly started to arrive at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, and to prepare for their arrival, we led a litter cleanup at Duncan Hill on November 9th. Our group of volunteers was small but mighty, and we collected 20 bags of trash during a short 1.5-hour period! If you missed out on joining us for this clean-up effort, don’t worry as we will be leading additional cleanups on January 4th and 18th, notably before and after the Festival of the Cranes. If interested in joining a future cleanup, please contact me via email at oburkholz@savingcranes.org.
In addition to these cleanups, I also lead weekly Whooping Crane Walks at the Visitor Center almost every Saturday. During my first walk of the season, there were 40 people in attendance. That’s more than the number of cranes we even saw that day! I am excited to share my knowledge and passion with so many people during future walks.
Perhaps even more exciting than these outreach efforts is the actual arrival of the beloved Whooping Cranes to the refuge! Only time will tell how many will show and if we see any new juveniles this year. To get us excited for their arrival, here are some highlights of who to expect!
One special bird that frequents Wheeler NWR every winter is 13-02. This male is the oldest living member of the Eastern Migratory Population, hatched in 2002. In fact, one way to tell the age of a bird is by looking at the last two numbers of their name, indicating the year the bird hatched. For example, his mate, 24-08, hatched in 2008! The first number instead indicates in what order the crane was hatched. By this logic, 13-02 was the thirteenth chick hatched in 2002, and 24-08 was the twenty-fourth chick hatched in 2008! To know if a bird was hatched in the wild, look for a “W” in front of the first number. For example, this pair of Whooping Cranes hatched W18-20, the eighteenth bird hatched in the wild in 2020. 13-02 and 24-08 nested again this year, but unfortunately the nest failed.
14-15, “Reba”, at Wheeler NWR. Photo by George Lee
There are a couple other honorable mentions that I cannot forget to mention. One pair has quite the celebrity status in Alabama, as they are often the first pair of Whooping Cranes to arrive at Wheeler NWR. Those birds are 1-11, also known as “Beau”, and 59-13, or “Latka”. However, 14-15, “Reba”, is the most commonly seen Whooping Crane at Wheeler NWR. With her big presence near the Visitor Center, she has been used to educate thousands of refuge visitors on the history and importance of the Whooping Crane. To keep up with these birds along their migration journey, check out https://whoopermap.savingcranes.org to see where they were last sighted!
We also encourage you to monitor this map to watch the 6 chicks in the population make their first migration south! This year, the Eastern Migratory Population of Whooping Cranes welcomed 1 wild-hatched chick in Juneau County and 5 released chicks in Green Lake and Dodge Counties in Wisconsin. These chicks have been busy preparing for their first migration south alongside adult Whooping Cranes and we hope to see some of them in Alabama this winter!
I invite anyone interested in learning more about these birds to join me on a Whooping Crane Walk, where you can ask me any further questions you have! If you are looking to get more involved in their conservation, consider tagging along for a cleanup! Finally, be sure to join us in our celebration of these wonderous birds and show you “Give a Whoop” at Festival of the Cranes January 10-12, 2025!
- Olivia Burkholz (Outreach Program Assistant for the International Crane Foundation)
