Like many others, the Northern transplant flew to Florida due to warmer temperatures, landed in Osceola County, where he stayed for over 20 years. Now he’s moving forward.
However, this particular snowbird was a real bird, one of the last two pertussis in the region, one of only five in the state.
His departure leaves central Florida among local celebrities, at least among those who know, but underscores decades of efforts that have failed to establish one of the world’s rarest birds in the sun.
“He’s a very handsome bird,” said Diane Gates. Diane Gates traveled to see the crane after learning him from a post on eBird, a website where birdwatchers post sightings. “It was a bit overwhelming because it was so different and the guys are so huge.”
There were only about 830 hooping cranes in the world, but they were not native to Florida, but in North America alone they counted tens of thousands of people.
The hooping crane was listed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which was threatened in 1967 and in 1970. The agency said the bird’s name probably came from the vocalization of a loud, single note.
The 25-year-old Osceola bird, known as 1018 for the number of metal bands surrounding his feet, was hatched at a Maryland facility. However, he became a fixture for the Buena Lago area, which is being built from the coast of Lake Crocodile, just outside the Holy Clouds offshore.
State wildlife officials moved him to Louisiana earlier this month and lived in colonies of dozens of his species. He left his ex-wife, who is also his sister. She is thin and not often seen.
In contrast, 1018 five feet tall and white feathers made him a star of the community. He grabbed the birdwatcher’s attention near and far.
“I was really surprised by his size,” said 23-year-old resident Ashley Hill, who saw the crane on a walk with his dog. “I’ve never seen such a bird before, so I Googled him. He’s really cool.”
Gates drove from his Mett Island home to Osceola for over an hour and got the first opportunity to see a crane in real life after more than 15 years of birdwatching.
“I saw him fly on two sandhill cranes and he was making some sounds, so he was pretty vocal,” she said. “I parked my jeep and he liked walking right next to my jeep… I was looking for food.”
Those entering Buenarago are greeted by a townhome queue with dark blue doors and clubhouse pools. Around 50 homes, primarily occupied by families, are occupied, but hundreds of lots of lots sit empty with weeds and pipes for connections with water rising from the grass.
On March 6, Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee won 1018 from the plot and moved to Louisiana, where 73 cranes live. He was wandering around Buenarago with a very small sandhill crane.
Follow Tampa Bay’s top headlines
Subscribe to our free Daystarter newsletter
We provide you with the latest news and information you need to know every morning.
You’re all signed up!
Want more free weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.
Check out all options
Tim Dillinger, a bird researcher at the FWC and part of the team that captured 1018, said only two women remaining in the state were very unlikely to find a companion. He said that getting him to move is his best bet – he can breed even after the age of 25, but not for too long.
“He didn’t feel like he would survive much longer (in Buena Lago) as they were already on the road for new developments,” Dillinger said. “They are starting to build a house, so he might get up and be attacked by a car.”
Experts also grew up worried that he lost the fear of human interaction, as he was shrinking in a community where his habitat is planned as more than 300 homes are rising up around him.
Along with Audubon of Osceola County, Larry Rosen said that every time the land is developed, it will take habitat from many species of birds.
“Birds cannot be breeded in driveways or in parking lots,” Rosen said. “The development has undoubtedly impacts. This is one of the biggest issues with wildlife in Osceola County.”
Some bird species are suitable for living in subdivisions such as pastures and sand hill cranes, but he is distinguished by the wooping cranes because of their height. It is the tallest bird in North America. He said the fearless nature of 1018 around people is a sign they are giving him, and it is illegal.
“They’re fragmented and foraging people’s lawns have done very well,” Rosen said. “But their natural habitat comes out of the prairies and marsh, so they get attacked by cars.”
Dellinger said 1018 is part of the state’s experimental efforts to create self-supporting crane groups. 289 was released into the wild between 1993 and 2005. The efforts failed primarily due to high mortality and low reproductive success.
“Their survival was difficult, mainly due to predation from the Bobcats. And we’re hit by power lines and more areas are developing, so you’re losing the wetlands too,” he said.
After being hatched in 2000, 1018 was brought to Florida and released in 2001 with seven others near the Everglades’ origins. However, he flew north just outside the St. Cloud City restrictions – he had been around since 2004.
Birds are generally monogamous, but if they repeatedly fail to raise a chick with their peers, they will “divorce.”
Dellinger said the first companion of 1018 passed away in 2010 after a crocodile bite.
“The crocodile actually appeared, she took its legs off the woman, there was a fake egg in the nest, which recorded information.
In December he “divorced” his second companion. This is the last remaining crane of Osceola. He had multiple chicks, but only one survived. My daughter, who was hatched in 2006, currently lives in the Gainesville area.
The Florida relocation effort officially ended in 2012, but Louisiana’s experimental independent population has been successful.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has reintroduced hooping cranes that have been raised in the White Lake Wetland Conservation Area in the southwestern part of the state since 2011. It’s a new home from 1018. The area of approximately 72,000 acres provides the crane with plenty of space to roam.
However, the only pertussis crane to travel from Florida to Louisiana is not the 1018. Since 2019, five people have moved and three have discovered that they are nested with their peers.
Dellinger said 1018 will be released in the wild with other pertussis, but it will need to gain weight and become healthier.
As for the other two cranes in Florida, one that was hatched in 2000 is in the Lake Wales area, and another that was hatched in Sumter County in 2003.
