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Whooping Cranes-Signs of Spring

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Posted on Fri, Mar. 21, 2014
By Beccy Tanner
The Wichita Eagle

Any day now, whooping cranes are expected to pass through the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

Last year, the first whooping crane arrived on March 6.

In 2012 and 2011, the whoopers arrived on March 16.

Travis Heying/ File photo Two rare whooping cranes come to rest at the Little Salt Marsh at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in 2010.

“Statistically, their peak movement is the last week of March and the first two weeks of April,” said Barry Jones, visitor services specialist at the refuge, in Stafford County.

The arrival of the whoopers generally signals the spring migration. But there are signs that spring has arrived.

Already, flocks of sandhill cranes have been passing through the refuge on their way to the staging grounds on Nebraska’s Platte River. Other birds – four tundra swans were spotted in Quivira along with a handful of pelicans, 200 Baird’s sandpipers and thousands of ducks – are resting in the water-filled marshes.

Read more here: Signs of Spring

 

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304 Wild Whooping Cranes Estimated – Great

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Whooping Crane Update

Wade Harrell, U.S. Whooping Crane Recovery Coordinator

Winter 2013-2014 Whooping Crane Survey Results 
304 Wild Whooping Cranes Estimated

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has estimated the number of whooping cranes in the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population present in the primary survey area centered on Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Preliminary analyses of the data indicated 304 whooping cranes (95% CI = 260–354; CV = 0.08) inhabited the primary survey area (see map). This estimate includes 39 juveniles (95% CI = 32–47; CV = 0.10) and 116 adult pairs (95% CI = 100–135; CV = 0.08). Recruitment of juveniles into the winter flock was 15 chicks (95% CI = 13–17; CV = 0.07) per 100 adults. The precision of this year’s estimates was improved and achieved the target set in the protocol (i.e., CV < 0.10). Improved precision is due to increased observer experience and refinement of methods.

During winter 2012–2013, 257 whooping cranes (95% CI = 178–362; CV = 0.19) were estimated in the primary survey area and during winter 2011–2012, 254 whooping cranes (95% CI = 198–324; CV = 0.13) were estimated. Examination of the 60-year trend in whooping crane numbers shows an increase with occasional, periodic declines. A continued upward trend in whooping crane numbers over the last three years was observed, and is consistent with the long-term growth trend.
SurveyArea_520
During winter 2013–2014, the primary survey area (approximately 154,000 acres) was surveyed seven times between 11 December and 23 December 2013. During the same period, the secondary survey area (approximately 101,500 acres) was surveyed twice to monitor ongoing expansion of the whooping crane’s winter range.

The data and results presented in this report are preliminary and subject to revision. This information is distributed solely for the purpose of providing the most recent information from aerial surveys. This information does not represent and should not be construed to represent any U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determination or policy.

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Whooping Crane Tracking Study

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To learn more about the Aransas-Wood Buffalo Whooping crane population, the Whooping Crane Tracking Partnership began banding and tracking the Aransas-Wood Buffalo Whooping Crane population in 2009. The purpose for this project is to document their locations, monitor survival and their stop over locations.

Since the study began, many key areas have been identified where the Whooping cranes stop over during migration. We did not know about many of these places until this study. Now that habitat around Aransas NWR and along the flyway corridor is under development pressures, hopefully some of these key stop over areas can be purchased, conserved, and protected to ensure that there will always be habitat available for the wild ones as they migrate along the flyway corridor.

Below is a video published February 10, 2014 by Texas Parks and Wildlife showing the capture and banding of and adult whooping crane wintering at Aransas NWR.                                          – Friends of the Wild Whoopers

 

The following report gives a more in depth explanation of the whooping crane tracking study project and its objectives.

The Unison Call, Spring/Summer 2013,Vol. 24 No. 1

Aransas–Wood Buffalo Whooping Crane Telemetry Projects

The Whooping Crane Tracking Partnership began in 2008 as a research project to use Platform Transmitting Terminals with Global Positioning System capabilities (GPS-PTTs) as a means to advance knowledge of whooping crane breeding, wintering, and migratory ecology including threats to survival and population persistence and to provide reliable scientific knowledge for conservation, management, and recovery of whooping cranes.

The Partnership is comprised of the Canadian Wildlife Service, Crane Trust, Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Geological Survey, with support from the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, International Crane Foundation, and Parks Canada. Partners agree the opportunity to mark wild whooping cranes with GPS technology will greatly enhance our knowledge of whooping cranes and enable us to assess risks they face during their entire life cycle. To date we have captured and attached GPS-PTTs to 31 juvenile whooping cranes at breeding sites in Wood Buffalo National Park and 24 adult and 2 juvenile whooping cranes at wintering sites at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Capture teams consist of individuals with experience handling endangered cranes, including a licensed veterinarian.

At capture, the veterinarian performs a health check on each crane, which includes a general external examination, blood collection for pathogen, toxin, and
genetic screening, and fecal collections for parasite evaluation. Captured birds are marked with a GPS-PTT attached with a two-piece leg band that weigh approximately 72 grams, which represents <1.5% of body weight of adult whooping cranes. The GPSPTTs have solar panels integrated on all exposed surfaces to maximize battery recharge and provide an equipment lifespan of approximately 3–5 years. Transmitters are programmed to record 4 GPS locations/day which provides us detailed information on roosting sites, diurnal use sites, and general flight paths. Transmitters upload new data on a 56-hour schedule which generally allows us to identify mortality events fairly quickly when they occur. As our sample of marked cranes is reaching peak numbers, GPS-marked cranes provided >15,000 locations during winter 2012-2013. Expectations and excitement among research partners has increased and we have begun to explore
the volume of rich information provided by marked individuals.

In addition to collecting information provided by the GPS-PTTs, the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program and researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and Crane Trust are conducting a ground-based study spanning from northern Texas to North Dakota to evaluate habitats telemetry-marked whooping cranes have used as stopover sites during migration. The ground-based stopover site evaluations allow
researchers to collect time-sensitive data that would be difficult or impossible to measure remotely and have enabled us to learn a great deal about conditions surrounding stopover sites that may have attracted whooping cranes to the area. Where many stopovers occur on privately owned lands, these evaluations depend largely on landowners allowing researchers access to their properties and we are grateful for the
access landowners have provided us during the past several migration seasons. Upon completion of the research projects, the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program plans to use information obtained via telemetry and at stopover sites to create and manage similar habitats along the central Platte River in Nebraska.

Dave Baasch
Platte River Recovery Implementation Program

 

***** FOTWW’s mission is to protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo population
of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****

friendsofthewildwhoopers.org logo

 

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Whooping Cranes Beginning Their Spring Journey to Canada

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Media Contact: Mark Klym, 512-389-4644, mark.klym@tpwd.texas.gov

March 6, 2014

AUSTIN — Endangered whooping cranes will soon begin their annual 2,400-mile spring migration from Aransas to Canada. As the rare birds leave the Lone Star State, Texas residents and visitors are invited to report whooper sightings.

Texas Whooper Watch (http://tpwd.texas.gov/whoopingcranes/) is a volunteer monitoring program that is a part of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Texas Nature Trackers program. The program was developed as a citizen science initiative to help the agency learn more about whooping cranes and their winter habitats in Texas.

Since beginning their slow recovery from a low of 16 birds in the 1940s, whoopers have wintered on the Texas coast on and near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Recently though, several groups of whooping cranes expanded their wintering areas to include other coastal areas and some inland sites in Central Texas. Last year, whooping cranes from an experimental flock in Louisiana spent most of their summer months in Texas, and the Whooper Watch volunteers were able to provide valuable information to TPWD, Louisiana Game and Fish and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service about these birds.

This year, biologists expect whooping cranes to start moving north in mid-March or early April. Reports to Texas Whooper Watch will also help improve the accuracy of surveys on the wintering grounds, as the growth of the flock has made traditional census methods more difficult.

Whoopers usually follow a migratory path through north and central Texas, including Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, and Victoria. During the migration they often pause overnight to use wetlands for roosting and agricultural fields for feeding, but seldom remain more than one night. The typical sighting (71 percent of all observations) is fewer than three birds, although the fall migration this year produced some groups of more than 10 birds.  They may also be seen roosting and feeding with large flocks of the smaller sandhill crane. Whoopers are the tallest birds in North America, measuring nearly five feet tall. The cranes are solid white in color except for black wing-tips that are visible only in flight, red crown and black mustache. They fly with necks and legs outstretched.

Citizens can help by reporting sightings of whooping cranes and by preventing disturbance of cranes when they remain overnight at roosting and feeding locations. Sightings can be reported to whoopingcranes@tpwd.texas.gov or (512) 389-TXWW (8999). Observers are asked especially to note whether the cranes have colored bands on their legs. Volunteers interested in attending training sessions to become “Whooper Watchers” in order to collect more detailed data may also contact  TPWD at whoopingcranes@tpwd.texas.gov or 512-389-TXWW (8999).

Additional information, including photos of whooping crane look-alike species, can be found at http://tpwd.texas.gov/whoopingcranes/ and at http://www.whoopingcrane.com/report-a-sighting/.

2014-03-06

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20140306a

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