Foxfeather Zenkova, a Minnesota wildlife rehabilitator and ornithologist, trades sequins for faux bird feathers when she dresses up for a Saturday night. Recently, Zenkova donned an elaborate costume nicknamed “Ugly Mom,” all to care for an orphaned sandhill crane (antigone canadensis). Teams like Ugly Mom disguise human wildlife rehabilitators as adult animals, allowing them to care for orphaned animals and decreasing the risk of the baby imprinting on a human before being released.

“Many times a chick is alone, and a young sandhill should never be alone,” says Zenkova, who runs the Vulture Conservancy and Foxfeather and the Foxloft. popular science. “They stick like glue to the side of their parents, never straying more than a few meters away from them until they are practically full size and it’s time to migrate in the fall.”

Sandhill cranes are one of the tallest birds in North America, standing nearly four feet tall and with an impressive seven-foot wingspan. During the summer months, they are found in small swamps, marshes, and grasslands in northern North America and the southeastern United States. During the winter, large flocks of sandhill cranes are found in Bosque del Apache, New Mexico, and the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

“They move with a prehistoric elegance and their loud bugle calls can travel for miles across wetlands, sounding like something you would hear in Jurassic Park”says Zenková.

Sandhill cranes are also quick learners, very observant, have a great memory, and are considered very intelligent. However, this innate intelligence and social behavior can be a challenge in a rehabilitation setting.

“Young cranes, who crave strong social bonds and have enthusiastic minds, can become attached to people surprisingly quickly,” explains Zenkova. “Because they learn social behaviors from the adults around them, human imprinting can make it difficult, or even impossible, for them to live a normal life in the wild. That’s why rehabilitators go to great lengths to keep human interaction to a minimum, using crane costumes, puppets, mirrors, and captive foster cranes to help chicks identify with their own species rather than people.”

Another rehab challenge is more physical and can be uncomfortable in the summer. Cranes also move a lot and can walk just a few hours after being born. After a few days, they travel kilometers daily with their parents. This movement is critical to a young crane’s health and development and can grow up to an inch per day.

“This requires a lot of dedicated space and time, and here, during an unusually hot summer in Minnesota, this year requires me to walk around in the sun dressed as an ‘ugly mom’ for hours a day, foraging for food and exercising different babies,” Zenkova says.

Zenkova’s clinic is currently caring for four orphaned mounds of sand, with a fifth on the way. Most chicks are orphaned after one or both parents are hit and killed by a car while crossing the street.

If you think you have found an orphaned sandhill crane chick, it is important to keep your distance at first. It is rare for a parent to abandon a chick and it may be hidden in vegetation or nearby but out of sight.

“One of our orphaned cranes arrived this year because it was parked under someone’s bird feeder for two weeks without its parents in sight,” explains Zenkova. “The owners [understandably] “I thought maybe the parents only visited occasionally like a mother deer or rabbit would, but it’s not normal for a baby crane to be left alone in a place like that and she needed help.”

Since these are wild birds, do not try to care for one yourself or search for advice on the Internet. According to Zenkova, it is full of misinformation that can end up harming the bird since rehabilitation is more than just feeding the animal. Contact a licensed animal rehabilitation center in your area as soon as possible, especially if the animal has obvious injuries or is constantly screaming. Animal Help Now can help you find licensed rehabilitators in your area. Animal rehabilitators are also always looking for volunteers to learn how to care for animals, as well as support from the public through donations.

After the orphaned or injured cranes successfully heal, complete swimming therapy to strengthen broken legs, or learn to socialize with other cranes, they can be released. In Minnesota, where Zenkova works, rehabilitated sandhill cranes can be released in the fall.

“Rehabilitating cranes is a lot of work, but watching a chick heal and thrive is a great privilege for me,” Zenkova says. “There is nothing better than the feeling of seeing them reunite with their counterparts once again and having a second chance at living a wild life upon release.”

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