Posted on 01/22/2012 10:00:29 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Battered by the worst drought on record in Texas, the world's only self-sustaining flock of migratory whooping cranes is showing vulnerabilities that raise the stakes for crane work in Wisconsin.
Texas' dry conditions and booming development have heightened worries about the health of the cranes and have sparked a legal battle over whether the endangered birds are getting their fair share of fresh water.
The specter of drought, hurricanes or other calamity is the reason why Wisconsin and a few other states - away from Texas - were identified as candidates for crane reintroduction.
The 5-foot tall cranes that migrate today in the eastern United States, largely between Wisconsin and Florida, are a separate flock from those migrating between Texas and northern Alberta, Canada.
But despite a multimillion-dollar effort in the past decade, Wisconsin whoopers have struggled with reproduction issues and other problems.
Slow to mature and a frequent target of unregulated hunting, the tallest birds in North America have long had troubles. Just 15 migrating cranes existed in 1941.
The latest dilemma has been extremely dry conditions along the Gulf of Mexico. During the last major drought three years ago, 23 cranes died, although there's debate in the Lone Star State whether a water crisis or something else killed them.
Over the past year, rainfall at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge has totaled 15 inches. That's down 59% from normal, government figures show.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the cranes this winter appear to be in good physical condition.
"But we are definitely concerned, and we are doing all we can to help them get ready for the migration," said Vicki Muller, an Aransas spokeswoman.
Some coastal marshes are now saltier than the ocean, and toxic algae blooms known as red tide are washing along the coast.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Here in Indiana, it’s looking like the windmills are going to win out over the known roosts and routes of the cranes.
Wisconsin Whooping Crane Migration ping
Outdodor and Wildlife ping
If you want to be on, or off, the Wisconsin interest ping list, just FReep Mail me.
That’s a shame...
They sound like they're tall enough to vote.
(Beautiful creatures though.)
We had whooping cranes showing up here in Michigan this fall.
There's places in Wisconsin where the registrars would oblige.
Great, Texas is drying up and the FAA is grounding the “helper” flights taking them down to Florida.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/cranes04-9m3lnrn-136612398.html
Wow! it almost seems like the our government is too big to react or function, or........something.
Incredible.
Texas Whooping Cranes
Aransas NWR-Wood Buffalo Flock
2010-2011 winter flock size: 283 (NEW RECORD!!!)
2009-2010 winter peak flock size: 263
2009 spring peak flock size: 247
2008-2009 winter peak flock size: 270
2007-2008 winter peak flock size: 266
2006-2007 winter peak flock size: 237
2005-2006 winter peak flock size: 220
(press your browser’s RELOAD button for latest update)
VIDEO!
The Aransas Pass Whooping Crane story:
Fossilized remains of Whooping Cranes date back several million years. Evidence from the Pleistocene Epoch shows that Whooping Cranes were once scattered throughout a much wider geographic range, extending from central Canada south to Mexico, and from Utah to the Atlantic coast. Early explorers and settlers recorded whoopers in six Canadian provinces, 35 U.S. States and four Mexican States.
Biologists estimate that there were between 700 and 1,400
whoopers alive in 1865.
Their numbers dropped rapidly, however, and by 1890 the whooping crane had disappeared form the heart of its breeding range in the north central United States.
By 1938, only two small flocks remained, one non-migratory flock in southwest Louisiana, and one migratory flock that nested in Canada and wintered in Texas.
The migratory flock was reduced to 15 birds in 1941, with an additional six whooping cranes surviving in the Louisiana flock. By 1949, severe weather had decimated the Louisiana population, leaving only the small migratory flock. Whooping cranes were on the brink of extinction.
The two most important factors that contributed to the decline of whooping cranes were habitat loss and unregulated hunting. As European settlers expanded westward, they drained marshes and plowed prairies for agriculture, destroying much of the birds’ nesting habitat. Many remaining habitats were close to human disturbance, a stress to which this shy and secretive species was unable to adjust.
As the number of whooping cranes declined, hunters, hobbyists and museum collectors scrambled to acquire the rare specimens and eggs for their collections.
Only one small flock of whooping cranes trod between survival and extinction. Ambitious recovery efforts were needed to save the species. Projects to protect this wild flock and to create new populations were put in motion and began the whooping cranes’ long journey to recovery.
Hope for the survival of whooping cranes was held in the lone wild flock that migrated from the wilderness of Canada to the Gulf coast of Texas each winter.
Their wintering grounds were protected in 1937 with the creation of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. (The Refuge was originally established for migratory birds, which included the whooping cranes. It was not established specifically for whooping cranes.) However, their breeding grounds, 2,500 miles to the north, remained a mystery until accidentally discovered in 1954 by a fire crew flying over Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
The discovery of the species’ only remaining breeding grounds opened new options to save these birds form extinction. Because whooping cranes lay two eggs per clutch but usually only raise a single chick, it was thought that one egg could be removed from each nest without decreasing the productivity of the wild flock.
Egg collection occurred during 1967-1996. The eggs became the foundation for future release programs in North America.
Due in part to habitat protection and hunting restrictions, this “remnant flock” has made a dramatic recovery. More than 263 whooping cranes now migrate between Canada and Texas.
Captive breeding efforts are taking place at the International Crane Foundation, Patuxent, and the
Calgary and San Antonio Zoos.
Captive breeding and reintroduction efforts have become possible with the development of better chick-rearing techniques.
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/aransas/wchistory.html
Thanks for posting the interesting background of the Whooping Crane.
You’re welcome.
Six of these creatures found a Texas lake that actually still has some water.
http://www.wildlifemanagementpro.com/2012/01/13/whooping-cranes-at-granger-lake/
Later news: http://www.eaa.org/news/2012/2012-01-09_cranes.asp
They are still on the ground & haven’t moved much. It seems that due to the long holiday and FAA imposed delay the cranes have forgotten how to follow the ultralights.
Later news: http://www.eaa.org/news/2012/2012-01-09_cranes.asp
They are still on the ground & haven’t moved much. It seems that due to the long holiday and FAA imposed delay the cranes have forgotten how to follow the ultralights.
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