Sandy, 6 -year -old Sandhill Crane, who left Porter County for a new home at Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, DC last month, came out of quarantine on Thursday, eventually permanently with other cranes. He and the male and female sandhill cranes are already living in the zoo, put their bills in the sky and make some noise.
“This is very loud. It is described as a bugle,” said the curator of Sarah Hallgar, the birds of Smithsonian. “It is very loudly united. She looked happy to see the other crane.”
It was solidarity with other people like him in coming for Sandy. After hitting a car, he was taken to the age of about a year for Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitation in Columbus.
A badly damaged leg with an abscess that took a long time to heal, Sandy became very social with people. Director Kathleen Harshe said, “She was here by herself. We were her flock.”
When Utopia heard of a sandhill crane, which was being rehabilitated in the Humen Indiana wildlife in Valpariso, he asked whether Sandy could try to cohabit. She went successfully in late October, and the two were briefly briefly together, but the bird was able to rebuild in the wild, while Sandy could not, with a damaged wing.
“Sandhill cranes are very keen in nature,” said Nicole Harmon, director of Humana Indiana Wildlife. “And we saw Sandy. She immediately started digging through shaving and straw (in her new Valpariso residence). They are very active birds.”
Harmon found in contact with Smithsonian, with which he already had a relationship for transfer of Songbords, and he agreed to take her into her flock of two sandhill cranes, Ross and Turkey. Sandy arrived in Washington on 13 January, when volunteers of the Human Indiana wildlife took her to a special cotton designed for their long frames.
It is not yet known that Sandy is a woman because mature sandhill cranes look alike across the sexes. Some feathers of Sandy were collected on Thursday and sent for DNA analysis that would definitely determine Sandy’s penis, although the halazer stated that the breeding rehabilitation is not a target with the sandhill crane.
Sandhill Crane in her enclosure in Human Indiana Wildlife before being taken to Smithsonian National Zoo at Washington, DC
While the Middle-Atlantic region that Smithsonian is not a common house for the sandhill crane sees them migrating on their north-to-south routes. From the zoo point of view, exhibition Sandy is now an opportunity to educate Americans about the story of original species and migration.
“They know a lot about animals from other parts of the world, but they don’t know about the animals of North America,” halaser said about most Americans. “Birds in North America are decreasing very fast.”
He said that Sandy can now play a role in educating people in ways that they can live that are bird -friendly, so sandhill cranes can fit. These universal birds live in the wild 30 to 50 years, and are close to 50 years in captivity, so Sandy, after so many years alone, has many years of cranes in front of him.
“We are thrilled to be able to give Sandy a house,” said Halager. “We didn’t realize that she was such a celebrity, so it was exciting.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Tribune.