Vince

Profile Picture and Leg Ring Combination Code

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• Red

What is this?

Each crane has a unique combination of 3 coloured rings on their right leg. This marking code helps to identify the crane in the wild.

Character profile:

Summer 2010: Vince was high ranking whilst young, but was soon deposed by Clarence.  Vince turned out to be a she when the sex test results came back, (Vincenta?)  but by then, the nick-name had stuck.  Vince is a very nosey bird, and can be very destructive and is occasionally aggressive towards the others.  She is the sister of Squidgy, and now spends a lot of time with Minnie. September 2010: Vince managed to destroy the aerial on her leg-mounted tag in September, and had to have it replaced, but other than this incident has been a model bird.  She has spent most of the time in a close cohort with Minnie and Mennis and is sometimes also joined by Chris, Squidgy and Ruby. October 2010: Vince and Minnie's previously strong bond seems to have disappeared and she has been joining whichever group is nearest! She has also been seen alone a few times recently, which has not happened before so we are keeping a close eye on her to see if she rejoins Minnie or decides to move onto a new group. After about a week Vince rejoined Minnie's group and is happily foraging with them again – phew! We think she just got a bit of a stomach upset and was feeling under the weather for a few days, not wanting to fly too far. We are glad she seems to be feeling well again.  November 2010: The group of three, lead by Minnie, has now decided to join Clarence and his larger group. All 20 birds are now usually seen together, probably due to the colder wintery weather, which has made them flock like they would normally in the wild. They have also discovered maize stubbles, which is Vince's new favourite food! December 2010: Vince developed quite a bad limp during early December and her condition is being monitored closely.  Her limp may have been caused by slipping on the ice that developed across their night-time roosting areas during the extended period of freezing weather.  Possibly because of her condition, she has also become a bit more of a loner and tends to hang back a bit from the group. January 2011:  Vince found her way back into the flock and has remained a tight-knit member of the group with her limp steadily improving all the time.  The flock is still a single unit and has been most recently feeding around the Aller Moor area.  Although she does still seem to be limping, it is much less pronounced and doesn't seem to be affecting her ability to forage.  March 2011:  Vince's limp is still of some concern, although it seems to have got slightly better and she is not having any problems keeping up with the rest of the flock or with feeding, so we are happy just to keep monitoring the situation to make sure it doesn't get any worse. September 2011:  Vince's limp seems to have improved, and is now only sometimes pronounced.  It is thought to be long term ligament damage, but does not seem to hinder her in any way.  She has now grown most of her adult plumage and is socialising well with the new 2011 cranes. June 2012: Vince has remained in Somerset, despite some of the 2010 cohort heading up into Gloucestershire, and has spent a lot of time foraging on Aller Moor, and has recently been roosting in shallow pools on the recently submerged Curry Moor. April 2013: Not much to report on Vince yet - she doesn't appear paired with any particular bird, although is often seen in the company of Minnie.  A pairing here would seem unlikely as we assume they regard each other as siblings. July 2013: Vince has not been seen since early June... and her whereabouts are currently unknown.  We are not sure whether she went into moult or not. Jan 2014: We have still had no sign of Vince, and fear the worst.  July 2015:  With no sightings now for 2 years it is assumed that Vince is deceased.  

Photos of Vince

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