Our captive Whooping Cranes are laying eggs, wild cranes are building nests and incubating, and chicks are hatching – breeding season is here!
A tradition at the International Crane Foundation is to follow our “Egg Scorecard,” which tracks the Whooping Crane eggs from our captive flock and wild nests in Wisconsin.
We’ll be posting updates to our scorecard on our website, Facebook, and Twitter, so check back often in the coming weeks to view our progress. Click here to learn more about Whooping Cranes.
Whooping Crane eggs laid or transferred to the International Crane Foundation (final update 6/19/17)
Eggs laid: 32/plus an additional 8 transferred from wild nests
Fertile: 12
Infertile: 15
Broken: 4
Unknown: 1 (probably infertile)
Hatched: 16 – Our naming theme this year is Gems/Minerals! Costume-reared chicks: Onyx, Cobalt, Saphire, Tigereye, Peridot, Zircon, Lazuli, Galena, Mica, Jade, Topaz, Citrine and Zinc. Parent-reared chick: Amethyst (adults Luna/Ioshchi). Two chicks have died.
27 eggs were collected from active nests in Central Wisconsin, as part of a management effort to encourage the cranes to lay a later, second clutch of eggs. The eggs were transferred to our headquarters, and 25 were fertile. We transferred 17 eggs to our partners for hatching, while eight remained at our headquarters (all have hatched!)
Wild Whooping Crane nests in Wisconsin (8/24/17)
Note: Each crane is identified by a two-part number, with the second number identifying the hatch year. A “W” indicates that the crane was hatched in the wild.
Pairs with chicks:
24-09/42-09 – W3-17
14-08/24-08 – W7-17