Parks Canada Archives - Page 2 of 9 - Friends of the Wild Whoopers

Citizen scientists wanted for counting Whooping Crane nests at WBNP

June 1, 2021 by Admin

The Whooping Crane nesting season is well underway at Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) and things are looking positive while biologists are in the midst of the annual Whooping Crane nesting survey. This spring, they are able to conduct their survey using helicopters, while following safe Covid-19 protocols. So in the next few weeks, we hope to know their results and how many nests were observed within and outside the park.

In the meantime, there is something that you will be interested in doing. Counting Whooping Crane nests. Yes, you read that correctly!

Citizen scientists wanted

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), Parks Canada (PC) and other organizations are working collaboratively to investigate the use of high-resolution satellite imagery to detect nesting cranes as an alternative method to monitor the breeding population.

Biologist are looking for volunteers (you!) to help them quickly review over 100,000 small satellite images through an online crowdsourcing platform to identify possible nest locations. Your results will be reviewed by biologists and will be used to identify, manage and conserve new breeding areas not previously identified and to refine methods to monitor and manage this endangered species.

whooping crane images — **Adult whooping crane incubating eggs. © Photo by Parks Canada and Canadian Wildlife Service – L. Parker (2018)**

How to become involved

Want to get involved and be a citizen scientist and help out the biologists? Just go to Zooniverse. Once there, you can register, do a tutorial and once that is done, you are ready to begin your own nesting survey. Who wouldn’t want to participate doing that!

Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. This research is made possible by volunteers — more than a million people around the world who come together to assist professional researchers.

***** 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.

friendsofthewildwhoopers.org

COVID cancels annual surveys at Wood Buffalo National Park

September 23, 2020 by Admin

Several people have asked Friends of the Wild Whoopers, (FOTWW) about the nesting and fledgling surveys annually conducted on the nesting grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park, (WBNP). We now have an answer for those interested and asking.

We contacted the park and Rhona Kindopp, Resource Conservation Manager at WBNP informed us that unfortunately the regular summer surveys were cancelled in 2020 due to COVID. She stated that they will be looking forward to resuming whooping crane nest and fledgling surveys next year. She also mentioned that currently their colleagues at the Canadian Wildlife Service, (CWS) are conducting some monitoring of migration in Saskatchewan. If we receive any news or information from CWS, we will be more than happy to pass the news on to everyone.

We know everyone looks forward to the news and photos out of Wood Buffalo NP. So not to leave you disappointed we will share with you some photos taken during previous surveys. We hope you enjoy them as much now as you did when they were originally posted.

Wood Buffalo National Park — **Whooping crane nesting habitat on Wood Buffalo. Photo by Klaus Nigge**

***** 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.

friendsofthewildwhoopers.org

37 Fledglings Counted During Whooping Crane Survey On Wood Buffalo National Park

August 8, 2019 by Admin

Parks Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service have completed their joint whooping crane fledgling surveys on Wood Buffalo National Park and surrounding area. A total of 37 fledged chicks from 36 sets of parents were observed. An increase from last year’s 24 fledglings. It appears that conditions at the park were better than last year. May rainfall was only 84% of normal, however, in June rainfall was 141% above normal, with most (22mm) of that falling on June 2 just as some of the chicks were hatching.

The fledgling survey is done in between the end of July and mid-August. Fledglings are birds that have reached an age where they can fly. The technique for this survey is very similar to the breeding pair survey. The nest locations are known so that the staff can fly directly to the nest. If the Whooping Cranes have not been successful in raising a chick they may still be in their territory or they could be kilometers away. If a pair does have a chick, they are generally found fairly close to their nest.

Importance Of Surveys

Both the Nest and the Fledgling Surveys are part of the world-class restoration plan that has made the endangered Whooping Crane an international success story and symbol of species recovery and conservation. By counting the number of fledgling chicks, Parks Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and others gain important insights into the health of the world’s last remaining natural nesting flock of Whooping Cranes that contribute greatly to our ongoing stewardship of these magnificent birds.

WBNP and nearby areas provide the last natural nesting habitat for the endangered Whooping Cranes. The birds are hatched in and near WBNP each spring. After they fledge they migrate 2,500 miles to their winter habitat on, or near the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas coast. During their 2,500 mile migration they stopover 20 to 30 times to rest, forage for food and roost during the nights. Then, the following April the total population returns to WBNP to repeat the reproduction cycle again.

The video below, sent to FOTWW by Parks Canada is of one of the 2019 fledglings.

FOTWW thanks all those involved in this recent survey and a thank you to Parks Canada for sending us photos and short video for everyone to enjoy.

BREAKING NEWS: 97 WHOOPING CRANE NESTS COUNTED ON CANADA’S WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK

July 12, 2019 by Admin

BREAKING NEWS: Ninety seven (97) Whooping Crane nests were counted on Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park nesting grounds during May 2019. Parks Canada and Canadian Wildlife Service cooperated on the count and released this information today. This is the second highest nest count ever for the endangered Whooping Cranes. The largest number of nests ever counted was 98 in 2017.

Happy New Year — Whooping Crane on nest in Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada. Photo by Klaus Nigge

Additional information on this great news will be published soon.