Whooping Crane Family--Part IV

In the first days of its life, a whooping crane chick quickly attaches to and follows his parents through an instinct called imprinting. But following is an effort that takes practice.
A lot of stumbling takes place until the chick develops strength and awareness of both his body and his environment. And the parents do their best to help.

While they are watching out for the chick, foraging and bringing him food, they spread their toes and use their feet to flatten the grasses around the chick's path. ICF biologists at the exhibit speculated that this grass-pressing behavior helps the parents keep up with the chick in the tall grass and enables them to better see predators. It also enables the chick to move about more freely.

Brian Johns, Whooping Crane Coordinator for the Candian Wildlife Services confirmed for me that this behavior is also observed in the wild. Wild birds build a platform for their nest in the water so that the chick can get out of the water but still be away from the shore and predators. But since the wild birds are constantly on the move there is also no extensive grass pressing or platform building in any one area.
As you can see in the chick video posted on October 7, within a couple of days the chick has gained strength and coordination and follows his parents with more ease...

and is even running...and flapping his wings!

Related links: whooping crane ultralight migration, Operation Migration. A special thanks to the International Crane Foundation for the opportunity to view this family. For other posts on the Whooping Crane Family click here.