Whooping Crane Updates

ICF’s captive Whooping Cranes are laying eggs and the number of wild Whooping Crane nests in Wisconsin is growing. Nesting season is here!

The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) is celebrating another success in its efforts to reintroduce a wild migratory Whooping Crane population in eastern North America. A Whooping Crane chick hatched yesterday in Wood County, Wis.

ICF is saddened to report on the fatal shooting of a Whooping Crane in South Dakota. The migrating adult crane was from the Aransas/Wood Buffalo population and was traveling with two Whooping Cranes when it was shot with a rifle while standing in a corn field. Law enforcement officers with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks are investigating the shooting which took place on April 20, 2012.

ICF’s Field Ecology Department (FED) staff are continuing their study of nesting Whooping Cranes in central Wisconsin and factors that may lead to nest abandonment. One hypothesis is that biting black flies may be harassing the cranes, to the extent that the birds cannot remain on their nest for the full 30-day incubation period. Following is an account of our spring research involving black flies, insect traps and fake nests, and planes!

The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), an international coalition of public and private groups that is reintroducing Whooping Cranes to eastern North America, is pleased to report that last year’s “Class of 2011” Whooping Cranes have all begun their spring migration north.