The first confirmed sighting in Canada was April 18. Groups of 3 are usually a pair of adults with their young from the previous year. These groups were rare this spring as only 9 pairs with young arrived on the wintering grounds this past year. The last confirmed sighting was of a single young from last year.
Spring is the time that the previous years young strike out on their own.
The juveniles spend their first winter with their parents and during spring migration or soon after arrival on the breeding grounds, they separate from their parents. If the young do not separate on their Photo Couresty Dalton Muir, CWS own, the parents drive them out so they can get to the business of re-establishing their territory and begin nest building. Most of the young cranes that separate during migration will continue on to the breeding grounds where they will move around until they find other young cranes to spend the summer with. Occasionally there are sightings of single whooping cranes during summer somewhere along the migration route. These sightings are generally of the previous year's young, who did not fly to the breeding grounds.