The International Crane Foundation was set up in 1973, with the aim of safeguarding the world\u2019s 15 crane species \u2013 most are endangered or vulnerable due to habitat loss, climate change and hunting. As senior aviculturist at the headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, I\u2019m involved in everything from daily feeding to overseeing chick-rearing.<\/p>\n
Whenever possible, chicks are raised by their biological parents or adopted by other adult cranes, but when that isn\u2019t possible, we have to raise them, and teach them how to behave like cranes. Some chicks will later be released into the wild, so it\u2019s important that they learn to stay away from people and other predators.<\/p>\n
Young birds identify the first large moving object they see as their parent \u2013 a process called \u201cimprinting\u201d \u2013 so it\u2019s important they don\u2019t see us as humans while we\u2019re raising them. At one time, feeding was done from behind a\u00a0barrier to reduce interaction, but this wasn\u2019t really practical.<\/p>\n
One day, a colleague threw a sheet over himself. A lot of the staff thought he was crazy, but he started developing a more elaborate costume, adding feathers and even wearing pants that matched the colour of cranes\u2019 legs.<\/p>\n
Amazingly, the chicks responded well, and followed him as they would an adult crane. The outfits we use now have detailed puppet crane heads on one arm. The other arm is our \u201cwing\u201d. We did away with the feathers to make laundering the costumes easier. Now, any time we spend among the chicks is done in costume.<\/p>\n
Whenever I see a video of us running and flapping, it does look kind of ridiculous, but the chicks still get the idea<\/p>\n
The chicks can be quite aggressive towards one another, depending on personalities and sexes, and who\u2019s \u201changry\u201d. We spend a lot of time making sure everybody\u2019s eating, drinking and getting along OK, and teaching foraging behaviour by searching for crickets and grasshoppers with them. Occasionally I\u2019ll struggle to get an insect into the puppet\u2019s bill and use my hand instead when the chicks aren\u2019t looking.<\/p>\n
It can be tiring work \u2013 my arms get sore. Usually we rotate who\u2019s in the costumes every hour or two. Wearing them provides anonymity, so it\u2019s easy to ham it up.<\/p>\n
When I started here in 1986, I learned a small amount of crane vocabulary and could mimic the scolding sound made by adult cranes if chicks were fighting or putting themselves at risk. Now we hide an MP3 player under the costume and play recordings of real adult cranes. The coloration of the puppet heads also matches that of real birds \u2013 for example, whooping cranes have a patch of red skin, which they tilt towards other birds to warn if they\u2019re too close. I\u2019ll sometimes do that to get a chick to back off.<\/p>\n
When new people first wear the costumes, it can be hard to suppress the impulse to react to things as a\u00a0human, rather than a crane. If a plane flies over, they\u2019ll look at it with their real eyes, rather than just reacting with the puppet head. It usually takes about a month to acclimatise.<\/p>\n
Before they leave us, it\u2019s important that the cranes are good flyers and able to get away from predators. Coaching them can be a challenge but we have a\u00a0prairie where we encourage them by running and flapping, right up to the point where a real crane would leave the ground. We mimic adults\u2019 \u201cpre-flight\u201d call and stretch out the puppet head. Whenever I see a video of us running and flapping, it does look kind of ridiculous, but the chicks get the idea. It makes me feel like a\u00a0proud parent to see them take flight.<\/p>\n
I do dream about work \u2013 sometimes, in my dreams, I would finally be able to fly. In others, my volunteers would take to the sky while I couldn\u2019t, or I\u2019d be the chick at the back of the flock, unable to keep up with the rest, and I\u00a0would feel very sad.<\/p>\n