Each year, Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and Parks Canada staff conduct aerial surveys over the extensive wetlands of Wood Buffalo National Park, (WBNP) that the cranes nest in and call home for the summer. These surveys occur at the end of May for the purpose of locating nests and then again in late July to count the number of chicks fledged.
Parks Canada and CWS were in the air again this past Spring and late summer of 2022 searching for whooping crane nests and crane chicks amongst the extensive wetlands of the park. Water levels on the nesting territory were higher than normal for the 2022 whooping crane nesting season. However, park and wildlife officials were still able to observe 96 nests during their spring nesting survey. 13 of those nests were found outside of the boundary of WBNP and 26 nests were outside of existing identified critical habitat (range expansion).
61 Colts will make their first migration
Photo: courtesy of Parks Canada and John McKinnon
During the summer, 61 colts were counted during the fledgling survey. Of the 61 counted, 11 families were observed having 2 colts. So if you see a higher number of “twins” wintering with their parents in Texas this year, you’ll know why.
CWS and Parks Canada cooperate to survey the Aransas Wood Buffalo breeding population. Annual monitoring of nests and fledgling numbers, estimates of the breeding population size and annual reproductive success, respectively, have been conducted in WBNP since 1966 via aerial surveys. Record numbers of nests (nearing 100) have been recorded in recent years. The long term 20-year average of fledgling survival is 0.49 fledglings per nest (so 2022 was a very good year compared to the average in terms of nest and fledgling success).
***** FOTWW’s mission is to help preserve and protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo
population of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
Friends of the Wild Whoopers is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
While visiting her daughter and her family in Corpus Christi, FOTWW friend Ginny Barber and the family had the opportunity to go birding. Their first encounter with Whooping Cranes was on a birding excursion on a boat out of Fulton,TX into the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge three years ago and they have been hooked ever since. This year was the second year they have seen a pair from the Leonabelle Turnbull Center. Last year the pair had no colts and stayed further out. This year the pair had colts with them.
Ginny was nice enough to send us some lovely photos taken from Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center during this year’s excursion and visit. We hope you enjoy her photos posted below. Be sure to click on them to enjoy them at full size.
FOTWW thanks Ginny for sending us her wonderful photos of the Port Aransas family. It is nice to see the colts learning how to be Whooping Cranes.
Migration of the only natural wild population of whooping cranes is underway. The Whooping Crane migration from Wood Buffalo to Aransas NWR is about 2,500 miles in length and can take as many as 50 days to complete. The flock is expected to migrate through Saskatchewan, Nebraska, North Dakota and other states along the Central Flyway over the next several weeks. The Wildlife Fish and Game and Parks agencies along the flyway encourage the public to report any whooping crane sightings.
If you should observe a whooping crane as they migrate along the Central Flyway, please report them to the proper agencies. We have compiled a list of agencies and contact information below. If you need help with identification, please click on our Whooper Identification page.
Canadian reports
Any sightings of Whooping Cranes in Canada:
Whooping Crane Hotline is 306-975-5595. That will get you to Wildlife Biologist John Conkin. Leave a detailed message for a callback.
Montana reports
Allison Begley
MT Fish, Wildlife, & Parks
1420 East Sixth Avenue
Helena, MT 59620
abegley@mt.gov
(406) 444-3370
Jim Hansen
MT Fish, Wildlife, & Parks
2300 Lake Elmo Drive
Billings, MT 59105
jihansen@mt.gov
(406) 247-2957
North Dakota
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offices at Lostwood, (701-848-2466)
Audubon, (701-442-5474)
National wildlife refuges
North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck, (701-328-6300) or to local game wardens
South Dakota
Eileen Dowd Stukel: Eileen.dowdstukel@state.sd.us
Casey Heimerl: Casey.heimerl@state.sd.us
Natalie Gates: Natalie_Gates@fws.gov
Jessica Dowler: Jessica_Dowler@fws.gov
Nebraska
Nebraska Game and Parks (402-471-0641)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (308-379-5562)
The Crane Trust’s Whooper Watch hotline (888-399-2824)
Emails may be submitted to joel.jorgensen@nebraska.gov
Kansas
Jason Wagner
jason.wagner@ks.gov
(620-793-3066)
Ed Miller
ed.miller@ks.gov
(620-331-6820)
Whooping Crane sightings at or near Quivira NWR should be reported to:
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge
620-486-2393
They can also be reported to this email: quivira@fws.gov
Matt Fullerton
Endangered Species Biologist
(580-571-5820)
Mark Howery
Wildlife Diversity Biologist
(405-990-7259)
Texas
Texas Whooper Watch also has a project in I-Naturalist that is now fully functional. You can find it here. You can report sightings directly in I-Naturalist via your Smart Phone. This allows you to easily provide photo verification and your location.
If you are not a smart phone app user, you can still report via email: whoopingcranes@tpwd.state.tx.us or phone: (512-389-999). Please note that our primary interest is in reports from outside the core wintering range.
Do not disturb and why reporting is important
Should you see a whooping crane during migration, please do not get close or disturb it. Keep your distance and make a note of date, time, location, and what the whooping crane is doing. If the whooping crane is wearing bands or a transmitter, please note the color(s) and what leg(s) the bands are on.
You may wonder why the wild life agencies are asking for these sightings to be reported. The reports are very helpful in gathering data and information on when and where the whooping cranes stopover, what type of habitat they are choosing, and how many there are.
With just over 500 wild whooping cranes migrating along the Central Flyway, odds are low of seeing a wild whooping crane. However, FOTWW hopes that someone reading this article will be one of the lucky few. If you are, please report your sighting so that these agencies and other conservation groups, including FOTWW can continue helping these magnificent cranes.
***** FOTWW’s mission is to help preserve and protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo
population of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
Friends of the Wild Whoopers is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
This is the time of the fall migration, both Sandhill and Whooping Cranes, as well as the Snow and other geese. Earlier this week, Maz, Kim and I went on a three day “drive-about” on grid roads through central Saskatchewan. Maz has become a great car traveller. Our vehicle’s back seat folds down flat so a large Vari-kennel fits quite nicely. Maz curls up on her cushions/blankets and snoozes. Snackies and on-lead “rest stops” are part of her journey.
Treated to Whooping Cranes
We were really hoping to see Whooping Cranes once again before moving back to the Maritimes. We did not, however, expect the treat we received! On the morning of the second day, we arrived in an area that we had hoped to see the cranes. Driving down a grid road, Kim thought she saw “little white dots” in the far corner of a recently harvested field, about two kilometers southwest of the road. We stopped (about 1.7 kilometres from the field) and looked through binoculars to check the white dots. Yes, Whooping Cranes, and nine (three family groups) had just taken flight. Kim said, “I think they are going to fly towards us – maybe even over the car”. As they gained altitude, the cranes flew towards our very dusty, field coloured gold vehicle and were getting closer with every wing flap! They came straight toward us then flew about 10 metres over the car(!), and continued to a small slough where they landed.
We were very lucky to have the cranes actually fly over us. Such an amazing experience! We think because our vehicle is basically the same colour as the fields/grid roads, it acts as a blind.
A Rewarding Drive-About
We saw at least 17 whooping cranes that morning – 11 adults and 6 colts. All were in family groups – five families of two adults with a colt, and one lone parent with its colt. It is very unusual for us to see such a high percentage of colts to adults in our sightings, especially in larger groups of cranes. We did see 10 more cranes, but could not be certain that these were different cranes, or just repositioned cranes that we had already seen. All were very far from the grid roads with the exception of when the cranes flew over head. It was a great day!
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Friends of the Wild Whoopers is very thankful that Val shared their adventure with us. We hope that you enjoyed it and the photos below of the wild whooping cranes and Maz that she sent along to go with her story.
Thank you Val!
Nine Whooping cranes (three family groups) taking flight from a recently harvested fieldOne of the family group approaching our carOne of the adults from that family group flying over the carThe family unit overheadTwo family units landing in a small slough – not certain where the third family landedMaz and Kim on a “rest stop” on a field dirt access road (less structured than a grid road) off the grid road.
