A Robin's Cap

Looking through the lens makes everything stand still, brings nature up close so you can see more. I love a beautiful photo, something clear, sharp, colorful, expressive.
But what I enjoy even more are the photos that tell me more about the bird than I knew before. That allow me to see beyond what my eye can observe in the fast moving moment of a bird encounter and tell me more about its personality and behavior. Have you ever noticed a robin's cap? I had to look and then look again at this robin image below. I thought, "that must be the tree, that can't be the shape of his head." But it is his head. It is his expressive crown and he has it all puffed up.

This robin doned smooth head feathers in my first shot, looking like we expect robins to look. And then something disturbed him and his feathers began to rise on his crown and his throat until he looked like someone had set a cap upon his head.

What a different expression he's wearing in the above photo compared to the first one.

Do you wonder sometimes what southern resident robins think about all the northern migrants dropping in to dine at their table?

Whooping Crane Family--Part VI

When peace is disturbed.
For several hours, on the morning of the whooping crane chick's second day, I was alone in the exhibit observation area at the International Crane Foundation.
The parents' attentive behavior, fluid movements and purring brood calls soothed me into a peaceful state as securely as it bonded them with their chick. (see chick video)
Deeply absorbed in this tranquil scene, my reaction was nothing short of alarm when suddenly the parents launched their heads into the air and began a guard call.
This was immediately followed by a frenzy of activity.
Below you see the reason for the disturbance.
Notice the tiny chick begins to swim to escape the intruders. This is part of the natural protection that wetlands provide the young. Though these new parents practiced rearing a sandhill crane chick during the previous year and had proven themselves to be good parents, every whooping crane chick is valuable to the survival of the species. Aviculturalists in captive programs must periodically check the health of the chick to insure that it is gaining weight and free of disease or developmental malformations.
In the photo above, notice the head-down threat posture of the male in front. The red patch of bare skin on the top of a whooping crane's head is important to its communication. When excited or disturbed, the whooping crane can engorge this patch with blood to make it brighter and larger.
Above you see the patch in a calm state.
And here you see another crane who is agitated and has engorged the skin patch.
The patch-forward posture of his head is a warning of more aggression to come if not heeded.

With its large size, razor sharp beak, the ability to jump and rake intruders with sharp claws and a tenacious temperament, the whooping crane is a formidable opponent.

Two handlers hold brooms in a manner that will keep the parents at a safe distance while a third positions himself to grab the chick. Needless to say, the parents did not win this skirmish and the chick was safely scooped up and wisked away for its health examination.

What followed touched me deeply. An empty silence engulfed the wetland. It was impossible for me to discern whether I was feeling anthromorphic empathy or sensing a loss that is universally shared among parents prematurely separated from their young.

The parents resumed their purring contact calls and stayed close to each other. Above the male stands tall and stretches his wings to demonstrate his size.

The parents reclaim their territory and reinforce their pair bond with a unison call.

Next: The family's reunion.
Click the following links to see the entire Whooping Crane Family series and to learn about the ultralight migration project that has helped re-introduce whooping cranes to eastern North America.

Whooping Crane Family--Part V

Wetland Buffet. Considered omnivores, whooping cranes spend most of their time walking and foraging for food. While many of the foods they eat are found in wetland areas, they also eat seeds, berries, grains and nuts found in fields, prairies, savannas and uplands.
Whooping crane parents bring their chick a variety of foods to teach him what to eat and provide the nourishment he needs for rapid growth.At ICF's Amoco Whooping Crane Exhibit, I watched as the male presented the chick with a food item, such as this whole crayfish, then dropped it to the ground and broke it into smaller pieces before offering it to him to eat.


A tadpole?The offering below appears to be a minnow. (You have to look closely.)

The chick above is two days old. While most young birds must mature rapidly in order to fledge in time for migration, the whooping crane chick has a long way to grow, from four inches to the nearly five feet he achieves before fledging.Here you see the same chick at four weeks (above and below). Photos by Richard Van Heuvelen, sculptor and pilot for Operation Migration .
And below, you see the chick at eight weeks. Photo by Sara Zimorski, aviculturists at ICF.
A young whooping crane chick may grow an average of one inch per day and be ready to fledge sometime between 78-90 days of age. Migration begins mid to late October for most whooping cranes. The juveniles below were photographed in late September and each practice flight increases their strength, endurance and skill at coordinating their seven-foot wing span.

Aren't they amazing?!
And just three months ago, they looked like this...

This year's fledgling class of re-introduced whooping cranes are scheduled to begin their ultralight-led migration on Oct 17, weather permitting. To read the daily progress of these young whooping cranes who will fly from Wisconsin to Florida on their first migration, visit Operation Migration's field journal. Youth and teachers will also enjoy Journey North's informative pages and updates on the migration.

Click here to watch the whooping crane chick video. To see all my Whooping Crane Family posts, click here. A special thanks to the International Crane Foundation (ICF) for the opportunity to view this family and to Sarah and Richard for sharing their photos.

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.

Whooping Crane Family-Part III on Video!

My friend, Jeff Huxman, videographer and co-founder of SolTerra Communications, caught this amazing video footage of the whooping crane family and has allowed me to post it here for you. Shortly after the video begins you will hear a 'guard call' or alert. Then watch what happens!

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

Whooping Crane Family--Part II

A whooping crane chick's day. I witnessed this peaceful scene between the chick and its mother on the chick's second day as they rested near the water's edge.
There was a constant communication between the parents and the chick, reassuring even to me as I observed. The brood call is a purring sound, deep, gutteral and constant, with the male's tone slightly deeper than the female's. The chick answers with tiny peeps and these soothing sounds assure the family that all is peaceful and safe in their world. The whooping crane is a prey species, ever vigilant for dangers and intruders. The parents working as a team, watch over their chick, in this case, the male hunting in the water, the female staying near the chick and almost exclusively presenting him with insects she catches nearby.Above, the chick has wandered back to the nest, a mass of plucked grasses which are now darkened by decay. As he rests, the female brings him an insect she has clasped in her bill. (The precision of these catches never ceases to fascinate me.)Below the male is hunting for crusteceans and tadpoles in the water. The disarray of feathers you see are molted feathers that have not fallen off yet. The whooping crane's appearance is usually sleek with its feathers neatly preened.

The chick's chief activities include sleeping, eating and learning what to eat and how to be a crane as it exercises and grows stronger.
The chick is moving past the male as he tries to present a morsel of food.

Though he appears to be, the chick isn't exactly following the female above, either. He is exploring and learning to use his legs. She watches over him carefully, even while hunting, and shifts directions to stay near him.
Oops....
Time to rest a while.

With the exception of group tours that came through the observation area periodically, for much of the day I was alone in this exhibit wetland with the cranes and their chick. The silence gave me plenty of opportunity to forget there was another world. What I mostly heard was the vocalizations of the whooping cranes, the rippling of water, the buzz of insects and the beeping of a few swallows over head. This world that I glimpsed, at its best, was an incredibly peaceful world.

Next: Video clip! For all Whooping Crane Family posts click here.
Thanks to the International Crane Foundation for this observation opportunity. For more of my posts on whooping cranes click here.
This post has been linked to Bird Photography Weekly #6 at Birdfreak.com to promote the love of birds and conservation.