LDWF - Whooping Crane First Flight (March 14, 2011)

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) staff, cooperating partners and local whooping crane project supporters welcomed 10 juvenile cranes to White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area (WLWCA) on February 16, 2011. The following video contains footage of the birds taking their first steps and flight, outside their predator proof pen, on March 14, 2011.

On this date, biologists with LDWF's Coastal and Nongame Resources Division and research associates with the Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (at LSU) opened the door to the top- netted acclimation pen where the birds had been since their arrival in February.

It took approximately ten minutes for the first bird to venture out of the netted pen. Some of the remaining birds had to be encouraged to leave the enclosure to explore the "outside world". The birds soon tested their ability to gain vertical height with their powerful wings. Once aware of the open sky above, one by one, they would take flight...circling around the pen and landing in the surrounding marsh. Not all birds ventured out of the acclimation pen that day. In fact, a couple remained within the top-netted pen for several days after the enclosure gate was permanently opened.

It was an amazing sight for all who viewed the first flights of these magnificent birds in the wild in Louisiana after nearly 60 years.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• whooping cranes
• louisiana
• ldwf
• wildlife
• wetlands
• marsh birds
• marshes