May 1, 2025
Episode 14
Building a Better Bird
Richard Dunn & Becca Grieser
Episode Extras
Mama Crane, Big Bad Human, and Ghillie walk into a bar…
Genetically diverse birds make for a genetically healthier population… but genetics aren’t always everything. Whooping cranes raised by humans or, alternatively, in an artificially isolated wild setting, don’t tend to do well when released. Isolation isn’t reached until remote Wood Buffalo, and everywhere else has constant human presence and infrastructure. The birds need to know how to be around humans to an extent, but also know to avoid them.
At the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center, bird keepers have incorporated extensive practices to promote better behavior in upcoming birds. They work to differentiate identities that the birds interact with, and do so by dressing themselves as three different characters to perform distinctly different tasks.
Mama Crane
Mama Crane does only what a crane does. This parental figure patiently feeds chicks from a puppet bill, forages alongside them in the grass or wetland, and plays back alarm calls or a handful of other recorded vocalizations when encountering a cue in the environment, such as a plane flying over or a human getting close. Chicks retreat to Mama Crane after being handled by humans.
Mama Crane is a white-sheeted, total-body-coverage costume with a puppet crane head. The puppets currently used were designed and created by Japanese woodcarving artist Haruo Uchiyama.
Human
Humans do what humans have to do. If a crane has to be picked up for health checks, transported from one enclosure to another, or other unnerving work, humans are the bad guys to do it.
Cranes exist within humans in modern times, so although the general lesson continues to be to avoid them due to the trouble they may bring, isolation from anything human-related whatsoever during rearing is not conducive for real-world survival and adaptability.
Humans dress in plain clothes, but may enter enclosures with rubber gloves and stethoscopes.
Ghillie
A ghillie suit serves the role that a ghillie suit was created for: to blend in and not be noticed.
Regular enclosure maintenance and husbandry tasks like feeding, watering, and landscape management continues day in and day out. A neutral character is needed to perform these routine and mundane tasks. No interacting with cranes– just getting the job done.
The less human-like the better… leafy camouflage suits work best to break up the human form. However, juveniles do grow accustomed to this frequent visitor enough to remain inquisitive.
Cranes Teaching Cranes
On the occasion when whooping cranes raised at the Species Survival Center are unable to be released to the wild, they continue to play a significant role in helping their species. Birds become ambassadors, genetic donors, or even model birds that help teach chicks.
Pippen has a soft spot for chicks. He doesn’t get along with other resident whoopers at the center enough to be paired with a mate, yet has proven to be quite the protector and role-model for youngsters just figuring out how to behave like cranes.
Fog
Fog was hatched at the Species Survival Center from an egg retrieved from a wild Wisconsin nesting pair outside of Baraboo (Episode 6). He was raised with the rest of his cohort by Mama Crane and intended to be released in Louisiana, but he displayed signs of a defective wing. Ultimately, an amputation was performed, and Fog now remains at the Center.
Fog was a spunky jouvenile and has matured into a strong and otherwise healthy male. He continues to play a vital role in the population and serves as a role-model to young incoming cranes that learn from him through netting nextdoor. From him, they learn how to talk “crane talk,” and do what a crane does.
What happens at a Species Survival Center?
The Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center, operated by the Audubon Nature Institute, serves as a base for conservation programs and reproductive efforts for several threatened and endangered species. The Center is located on 1,200 acres of U.S. Coast Guard and City of New Orleans land along the Mississippi River and includes dozens of large enclosures to house, breed, and study animals in seclusion.
Notable species currently at the center include whooping cranes, Mississippi sandhill cranes, several endangered storks, the blue-billed curassow, sea turtles, giraffes, bongos, and okapis.
This center was originally dedicated to high-tech scientific research, and may be remembered by national news headlines in 2008 when a glow-in-the-dark cat, Mr. Green Genes, exemplified progressive steps toward cloning, gene marking, and gene therapy research. The center also continues to house a frozen zoo of animal samples from around the world, which can be used and studied in the future.
Today, the Species Survival Center is home to several ongoing conservation programs.
Episode 13: Capturing Cranes
Episode 15: A Great Experiment