A Whooping Crane chick that hatched at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin last month has died.
Richard Urbanek, the federal biologist who tracks the birds, says the last time he saw the chick was at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 28. He last observed the parents "in apparent chick-attendance behavior" the next evening, when his view of the chick was obscured by marsh vegetation. "The parents were first observed behaving as if no chick was present on June 30, and subsequent movements of the parents have confirmed the loss."
Urbanek says he checked the area where he last saw the family but could not find the chick. "[There's] not much chance of finding a small chick," he told me. "It was probably eaten by a predator."
The summer's first Whooping Crane chick, hatched from a captive-produced egg on June 12, continues to do well in a cranberry reservoir in Wood County. --M.M.
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