Whooping Crane Updates

ICF’s Eva Szyszkoski, Tracking Field Manager for the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), has been in Alabama banding the group of nine ultralight-led Whooping Cranes, which were released at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge earlier this month. Last week, Eva was tracking a tenth Whooping Crane (#2-11), who had separated from the other nine juvenile cranes during migration in Wisconsin last October and wintered in Florida. Following is Eva’s report on her attempt to re-capture #2-11 to replace it’s radio transmitter (and news that spring migration has started!).

Nine juvenile Whooping Cranes on their first ultralight-led migration south will be taken to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Morgan County, Ala. in the next few days. The nine Whooping Cranes will be placed in travel enclosures and loaded onto vehicles as soon as possible. They will be driven about 70 miles from Winston County, Ala., to Wheeler NWR. The cranes will be temporarily housed in a secure pen, during which time they will be fitted with identification bands and tracking transmitters. The young birds will then be released in the company of other Whooping Cranes that have been wintering at the refuge.

This has been a busy month for Whooping Crane activity since our last report. Aransas National Wildlife Refuge has received an additional 0.72 inches of precipitation and salinity levels remain higher than ideal. We have continued to help alleviate the low food resources by adding to our prescribed burn totals. This week alone we have burned an additional 4,682 acres of Whooping Crane habitat. Biologists observed the Whooping Cranes eating roasted acorns and are seeing continued usage.

As a pair of Whooping Cranes remains in North Carolina’s Clay County, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service urges spectators to maintain their distance in order to not spook the cranes and reduce their familiarity with humans.

“These cranes are among the rarest animals on the planet. In our efforts to recover this species, I can’t stress enough how important it is for people to give the birds the space they need to feel comfortable and go peacefully about their daily lives of finding food, water, shelter, and developing the bond that will lead to successful nesting in the spring,” said Bill Brooks, a biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The International Crane Foundation (ICF) is saddened to learn of the shooting of male Whooping Crane #6-05 from the eastern migratory population. Number 6-05 was found dead on December 30 near Crothersville, Indiana. He was paired with DAR (Direct Autumn Release) Whooping Crane #37-09. Number 6-05 is the eighth Whooping Crane to be senselessly shot in the past year (two were shot in the non-migratory population in Louisiana and six in the eastern migratory population).