Aviculturist uses crane costumes at Baraboo centre to raise and teach chicks

A senior aviculturist at the International Crane Foundation’s headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, wears crane costumes to raise and teach chicks that cannot be reared by adult birds. The foundation, set up in 1973, aims to safeguard the world’s 15 crane species, most of which are endangered or vulnerable because of habitat loss, climate change and hunting.

The aviculturist’s work includes daily feeding and overseeing chick-rearing; when parents cannot raise young, staff must teach chicks to behave like cranes and to avoid people and predators. Young birds imprint on the first large moving object they see, so avoiding human appearance during rearing is crucial.

The costume approach began when a colleague covered himself with a sheet and developed the idea into a more elaborate outfit. Current costumes have detailed puppet crane heads on one arm and a wing on the other; feathers were removed to ease laundering. Staff rotate in the costumes every hour or two, hide MP3 players under the outfits to play adult crane recordings, mimic scolding and pre-flight calls, and match puppet head coloration to species traits such as the whooping crane’s red skin patch.

Care routines include teaching foraging by searching for crickets and grasshoppers, occasional hand-feeding when chicks are not looking, and running and flapping on a prairie to coach flying.

Key Topics

Science, International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, Whooping Crane, Crane Costumes, Imprinting