chicks!

It has been an exciting few days here. Last Monday our first whooping crane chick hatched. I didn't see him until yesterday - boy is he cute! Every year they chose a theme for whooping crane chick names and this year it is vegetables. The first chick is named Rutabaga. We have to be in crane costumes whenever whooping crane chicks can see us. I fed Rutabaga yesterday - he is doing really well, eating and drinking on his own, not needing much encouragement. I also took Rutabaga outside in the chick yard for some exercise yesterday. He followed me around as he walked, ran, and tripped. He went in the pond with me and swam for a minute, which was adorable. I fed him dandelion roots out in the yard, and he enjoyed pecking at dandelion tops. I wasn't able to get any pictures yesterday but some other interns have gotten a couple and I hopefully will soon. It is hard because we cannot let the chicks see the camera. Two nights ago two more whooping crane chicks hatched. The first out of those to hatch is named Fiddle Head. The second will be named tomorrow - we had to help him hatch because he was having trouble, and any time there is an assisted hatch we wait a couple days to name them just in case they don't make it.
I have been hanging out with girls from work . . . going hiking and birding, seeing movies, etc. This coming Monday I am planning on going bird banding with two girls from work. It is about an hour away and I believe they focus on warbler banding, so it should be pretty cool.

Last Sunday I went to Devil's Lake State Park with a guy that interns at the farm across from ICF. We visited a great blue heron rookery there, which was awesome. They nest up in the tree tops, which is a really amazing sight. We saw multiple nesting pairs and the trees continued farther than we could see. There was one chick in one of the nests that we could make out and Caylan got a nice picture of it (the one on this page). He got a good picture of one flying over as well (on this page).

Our first chick began the hatching process yesterday. He/she should hatch today or tomorrow. It was super cute yesterday because he was not only moving around but also peeping. It's really funny to hear noises coming out of an egg.

been a while

Sorry I haven't updated in forever!
A few days ago I held another crane - Berta, a sandhill - while she got a beak trim. A couple days ago I was watching some birds on live video (some of them have cameras in their yards) and saw two different female whooping cranes lay eggs. It was really cool to watch them go through labor - they circle and then hock-sit (sit on their "knee" - actually is ankle - joint called the hock) and they will open mouth breathe and wiggle around. That same day, I was switching around eggs with another girl and a red crowned crane attacked me, bit my hands some. He was not happy that we were taking his eggs - what a good dad.
Monday I went to Madison and went to Target and the Henry Vilas Zoo again. I took some pics at the zoo and still need to post them. Tuesday I got a state park pass and went to Devil's Lake State Park, which was really nice. I took a few pics there and need to post them as well. That night a group of us from ICF went bowling with a few interns at the Aldo Leopold Foundation (ALF). They seemed really nice, but we didn't really get to know them much.

Handling

Saturday I was taken out to learn crane handling. My first attempt didn't go great, but the second bird I tried (Razz - Brolga) went well. It is not easy holding a crane football-style under your arm, keeping them from getting away. I wasn't able to have anyone take a picture of me, but there hopefully will be more opportunities. Yesterday I found a Tree Swallow egg on the ground in Crane City. It is so small, but that's probably just in comparison because I keep seeing crane eggs. I took a couple pics so I'll probably post those on Flickr in the birding album.
The weather has been really nice the past couple of days, but it looks like there may be some rain tomorrow. Still going to be warm though.