In late November, Friends of the Wild Whoopers’ (FOTWW) roving reporter, Kevin Sims sent us photos showing a young whooping crane colt and its parents soon after they arrived on Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, (ANWR). They had just completed migrating 2,500 miles from Wood Buffalo National Park, (WBNP) Canada. Even though Kevin didn’t know the gender of this colt, he affectionately named it Junior. Kevin has been able to watch Junior throughout the winter as he matured and learned all the necessary skills to survive in the wild.
Some of the wild flock has begun their 2,500 mile migration back to the nesting grounds at WBNP and soon the rest will follow. Kevin sent us a couple photos of Junior showing how he has grown and matured throughout the winter. In November, his parents would catch blue crabs for him, but now, he is able to catch his own. His parents have taught him well and hopefully, we’ll see Junior back at ANWR next fall. They grow up so fast!
Friends Of The Wild Whoopers thanks Kevin for the “Then” and “Now” photos and we hope you enjoy them. We have.
Junior soon after arriving at AWNR
Junior with one of his parents soon after arriving at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Kevin Sims
Junior today
Junior with his parents on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Kevin Sims
friendsofthewildwhoopers.org
***** 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.
by Lee Ann Linam, Texas Representative, Friends of the Wild Whoopers
Lee Ann Johnson Linam, Texas Representative, Friends of the Wild Whoopers
On May 26, 2015, I represented Friends of the Wild Whoopers (FOTWW) at the Whooping Crane Partnership meeting held at Texas Parks and Wildlife headquarters in Austin. Approximately 15 people representing Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), Audubon Texas, Ducks Unlimited, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Friends of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, and the International Crane Foundation (ICF) were also in attendance.
This partnership was launched during the past year in response to discovery of a Whooping Crane carcass near a hunting blind in coastal Texas. Although that circumstance is still under investigation, the Executive Director of TPWD contacted Audubon Texas and asked that organization to spearhead a collaborative effort to increase public awareness about Whooping Cranes. This will serve as a follow-up to an outreach campaign that TPWD implemented in 2013 following shooting deaths of two Whooping Cranes in Texas in 2012-13. The partnership met once in February of this year to discuss initial ideas.
The goals of the partnership are to:
Develop a stronger understanding of the education/outreach needs regarding the wintering Whooping Crane population in Texas
Identify our greatest opportunities to achieve scalable conservation outcomes
Develop and coordinate priorities for winter 2015 and 2016
Improve our ability to leverage the capacity of the participating state, federal and NGO’s to support the work
Develop a common approach to how we deploy initiatives
Several strategies were discussed at the meeting. A few, such as special mailings to Texas waterfowl and Sandhill Crane hunters, were identified as too expensive ; however, the group has begun to make progress on other ideas, including:
TPWD Law Enforcement staff will place an announcement in the Fall 2015 Hunt Texas newsletter which goes out to subscribing sportsmen in Texas.
TPWD Migratory Program staff will work to ensure that Whooping Crane identification information, along with an emphasis on the stiff penalties for violations, will continue to be featured in the Department’s annual hunting season publication, the Outdoor Annual.
ICF and FOTWW representatives will contact hunting lodges reached in 2013 to see if they need additional posters or flyers depicting Whooping Crane identification.
ICF and FOTWW will follow up on the 2013 project to place identification signs at boat launches to see if signs need to be installed or replaced.
ICF will form an ad-hoc committee to design billboards to be placed in the Coastal Bend region of Texas to help citizens and hunters be more aware of the presence of Whooping Cranes. FOTWW will provide representation to the committee and funding matches for billboards.
Audubon and Wade Harrell, FWS Whooping Crane Coordinator, will contact the FWS Migratory Bird program to see if information on Whooping Crane identification can be included in federal duck stamps that are mailed to hunters. TPWD staff will also present the issue at the Central Flyway meeting.
friendsofthewildwhoopers.org
***** 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.
CORPUS CHRISTI – August arrived with a welcome companion — a morning of summer rain.
Water has been on the collective South Texas mind, with city restrictions going into effect as landscapes look increasingly parched. Water woes also affect the many species of birds that spend all or part of their year living on the Texas coast, including our famous winter visitors — whooping cranes.
In the words of Tom Stehn, retired Whooping Crane Coordinator at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, “Water issues are of great concern for whooping cranes. Data show that the health and survival of the endangered whooping crane flock is directly related to freshwater inflows from the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers.”
Stehn’s editorial discussing the recent ruling of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals appeared July 3 in the Caller-Times. The court overturned an earlier ruling holding the state liable for whooper deaths during the winter of 2008-09.
Responsible water management is at the heart of the issue. When salinity rises in bays and estuaries, the availability of the food and water resources the cranes depend on is diminished. Combined with challenges posed by additional habitat and environmental changes, the whooping crane’s inspiring return from the brink of extinction could face undesired setbacks.
What can you do to ensure that your grandchildren, and theirs, will have a chance one distant winter to see these stately and magnificent birds? Not in a zoo, but wading Texas coastal ponds, feasting on blue crab and wolfberry?
Most of all, be conscious of water usage; treat it like the precious and finite resource that it is. Replace a section of lawn with a xeriscape garden featuring plants that attract butterflies and birds. Fix a leaky faucet; install a drip irrigation system; turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. Make water conservation a habit for the present and the future.
The Hawk Watch got an early start this season, as watchers began manning the platform Friday at Hazel Bazemore Park.
Swallow-tailed kites usually are seen early in the season, and there are hopes for a record year for this species. Considered one of the most thrilling sights of birding, I’ll visit as often as possible to search the sky for this exquisitely graceful raptor. Slender Mississippi kites, tastefully colored in understated gray, have been reported over the prairies of Lavaca County and can be expected to pass through in greater numbers soon.
Phyllis Yochem, a Corpus Christi resident, has studied birds in Texas since 1960.
Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
***** FOTWW’s mission is to protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo population
of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
Liz Smith, International Crane Foundation wrote a powerful article “Forum: Fate of the whooping crane falls into hands of the state …”. The article is in “Caller-Times” and Friends of the Wild Whoopers (FOTWW) received permission to place it on our web site for your convenience.
FOTWW would like to commend Liz Smith, a whooping crane conservation biologist with the International Crane Foundation, on her excellent editorial in today’s Caller.com. We agree 100% with Liz when she states that the “Fate of the whooping crane falls into the hands of the state”.
Liz also writes, “As a coastal scientist working with other professionals to deliver scientifically sound information to guide environmental decisions, I will continue to increase awareness that our system is at a tipping point. It is up to the citizens of Texas to ensure we don’t lose this coastal treasure.
Please let your representatives know that we need a change of attitude about water. Let’s keep this initiative at the forefront of our efforts to save our beautiful Texas coast for future Texans.”
FOTWW agrees, it is up to us, concerned citizens and lovers of these magnificent whooping cranes to keep this initiative at the forefront. Texas citizens, please write to your elected officials. Write op-eds or letters to the editors of newspapers in Texas. Let’s keep this in the forefront and be the voices of those who cannot speak for themselves, our beloved whooping cranes.
Forum: Fate of the whooping crane falls into hands of the state
POSTED: 3:04 AM, Jul 25, 2014
TAG: forums (/topic/forums)
The recent ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals does not hold the state of Texas responsible for the fate of whooping cranes in the San Antonio Bay system. As Texans, we should insist that the state take that responsibility seriously. The future of our bays and estuaries hinges on responsible water management that values life and all water users throughout the river basin.
Whooping crane at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of Kevin Sims
The whooping crane is a flagship for how we manage our waters. Whooping cranes number only about 300 individuals on their wintering grounds in Texas, and after 70 years of recovery from very near extinction their future remains completely dependent on the future of our coasts. The health of our San Antonio Bay system is intricately tied to both the return of Gulf waters through Cedar Bayou and the predictability of freshwater inflows from the Guadalupe and San Antonio river basin. Further misappropriations of flows, which resulted in the death of 8.5 percent of the crane’s population in 2008-2009, could result in the extinction of this
last remaining wild flock.
This places a huge responsibility on maintaining that estuarine system, not only for whooping cranes, but for the bounty of recreational fisheries, tourism and coastal enterprise it sustains.
The International Crane Foundation is one of the many organizations seriously concerned about the mismanagement of fresh water flowing into our coastal systems. We continue to work with all interested partners to find alternatives and viable solutions in our world of finite water availability, especially during drought conditions. Our efforts will not save our bays and estuaries, however, unless the state of Texas recognizes that the ultimate leadership on water management must come from the state.
As a coastal scientist working with other professionals to deliver scientifically sound information to guide environmental decisions, I will continue to increase awareness that our system is at a tipping point. It is up to the citizens of Texas to ensure we don’t lose this coastal treasure. Please let your representatives know that we need a change of attitude about water. Let’s keep this initiative at the forefront of our efforts to save our beautiful Texas coast for future Texans.
Elizabeth H. Smith, Ph.D. is a whooping crane conservation biologist with the International Crane Foundation.
Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
***** FOTWW’s mission is to protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo population
of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
