The Leesburg Whooping Crane Chick
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Gene and Tina Tindell have enjoyed the excitement created by the birth and fledging of a whooping crane chick in a marsh behind their home (March 2002). The chick’s parents, part of the Florida Reintroduction Program that began in 1993, will probably send “Lucky” on his independent way by December of 2002. |
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When he’s gone the Tindells will still have lots of memories. Their front yard has often been filled with cars bringing local, national, and even international photographers. Gene and Tina have received complementary copies of many of these professional photos that they proudly display now in several large scrapbooks.
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An eagle took one of the two chicks that hatched. But it never should have returned for the second. The whooper parents gave that eagle a terrible stomping. Gene watched the whole thing and later had to call a wildlife rehabilitator to come pick up the eagle.
The last whooping crane birth in Florida was back around 1939. This 21st century Leesburg chick has grown now to the same height as his father and is a strong flyer. Biologists from Florida and US environmental agencies and all the NGOs in the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership are delighted by the success so far. Of the fifteen crane species in the world, whooping cranes are most at risk. Less then 400 are known to be alive. As fate would have it, this first chick fledged in Florida is actually related to the crane known as Canus (Canada / US), the crane biologists used to start the endangered species program in the early 1960s.
Leesburg is about an hour’s drive from Sanford. For updates on “Lucky” visit the Bird Links section of our web site.
photos © Gene Tindell
