Many juvenile cranes, like Kevin, are outfitted with a satellite transmitter attached to their leg bands. This allows us to track their movements remotely, which is extremely helpful for a small population that migrates to a variety of wintering areas. Without help from satellite transmitters, we need people on the ground to report their sightings of Whooping Cranes and the colors of their unique leg bands. Without this input, we would know very little about where Whooping Cranes spend their winters. Luckily, we could follow the track of the satellite transmitter to find Kevin on his wintering grounds.
A few days ago, Amy (Whooping Crane Field Technician) and I began our 6 week trek to monitor Whooping Cranes’ winter habitat use. We first tracked a well-known pair of cranes in southern Georgia. Both members of this pair were from the 2007 cohort of juveniles and have spent the majority of their winters on this exact piece of property. Needless to say, they were not difficult to find. They even roosted in the exact same wetland as I had seen them in the year before. We enjoyed starting our field season with this familiar pair, but then set out for unfamiliar territory in Louisiana.
Meanwhile, Kevin had made his way south on his own, and ended up in Louisiana, coincidentally where there is another Whooping Crane reintroduction project. Again, Kevin is a bit of a superstar, and has now been given the nickname “Boudreaux”. We drove from Georgia to Louisiana, directed by the locations given by Kevin Boudreaux’s satellite transmitter. When we arrived, we heard very faint signals that were inconsistent. We were hoping to find where this bird was roosting, but had a difficult time getting a consistent signal and were driving unfamiliar roads in the dark. After such a long day, we were a bit discouraged but decided to try again during daylight.
The next day we were well-rested and well-caffeinated and headed back to the area to find the elusive Whooping Crane. Long story short (aka hours-of-driving-in-circles story short), we again did not get strong or consistent signals from 20-15’s transmitter. I had all of the satellite transmitter’s data and we checked all of the areas this bird had been in since arriving in Louisiana. It was nowhere to be found. Every now and then we would hear a faint beep, start to drive in that direction, then nothing. We got out of the tracking van to listen with a handheld antenna. Nothing. We drove down paved roads, dirt roads, and the same roads again. Nothing. I start to think the worst. If Kevin Boudreaux was here, we’d get a better signal. If Kevin Boudreaux wasn’t here, we wouldn’t get any signal at all. There weren’t a lot of trees to interfere; the area wasn’t so large that he’d be too far away to get a signal. It didn’t make sense. We called it a night, hoping for better satellite transmitter data the next day.
This morning we headed out, thinking it would be a day spent looking for a crane that had possibly perished. The local conservation officers thought the same, and offered to help us get onto private property to check it out. Until this point, we hadn’t even gotten a consistent enough signal to triangulate Kevin’s location, and weren’t even sure where to look. We made it out to the area, and to our surprise got a little bit better signal. Better, but still not great. We got a rough triangulation, but enough of an idea of where we needed to look.
Amy and I were feeling a bit down, not excited to drive in any more circles, nor to wander around looking for a dead crane. We decided to get some lunch before going back out. While sitting in the café eating our beignets, we heard on the radio “Do you know anybody who likes birds? Well you should wish them a Happy National Bird Day!” Really radio? Do we have to go looking for a dead bird on National Bird Day? But out we went.
We got another triangulation, then met up with the conservation officers. We started driving in the direction of the signal when we came upon the local landowner. We explained the situation, and they said they hadn’t seen Kevin Boudreaux since before Christmas but we’re welcome to look. We drove down the muddy roads alongside the crawfish ponds until our van couldn’t make it any further. From there we took our handheld antenna, and kept walking along the ponds in our rubber boots. Amy scanned for big white birds among the dozens of egrets while I directed us with the radio signal. It seemed to be getting stronger, so we must be getting close. We came up to a canal, not able to walk any further, when through the tree line and across a couple of crawfish ponds we saw an egret perched on a post. From afar, it looked really big (like crane-sized big)! We put our binoculars on it, and find it’s an egret. Bummer. But wait. What is that bird next to it? It’s a big white bird, standing in some tall grasses, and looks smaller because of its brownish head and neck! It’s Kevin Boudreaux!! I yell “HE’S ALIVE!!!” I passed my binoculars to the conservation officer, whether he wanted to see the bird or not. We hurried back to the van, and I told the crawfish farmers and the other conservation officer, “HE’S ALIVE!!!”
I’m not sure what kind of weirdness was happening with 20-15’s transmitter, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been so happy to see a Whooping Crane. I was starting to worry he hadn’t survived the new year, when actually he was in a very secluded and safe spot. We also met some very helpful conservation officers, and two very kind landowners who are going to allow us on their property again to track 20-15’s movements and habitat use. Wish us luck, and cheers to Kevin Boudreaux!