Whooping Crane Conservation Association

Tom Stehn, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge reports, “The whooping crane migration is well underway. The first two whooping cranes were sighted at Aransas on October 21. Numerous other cranes arrived near the end of October and the first week in November. So far, ground reports from numerous parties have helped me record that 59 white-plumaged and 11 juveniles = 70 whooping cranes are at Aransas. No aerial surveys have been done to date to get a total count.”

Tom continued, “From the 10 radioed whooping cranes, 6 of those 10 have completed the migration to Aransas. Thus, one can estimated that 60% of the flock has reached Aransas. With 290 whooping cranes expected to reach Aransas, that means an estimated 174 could be here already (60% x 290). The 4 radioed cranes still in migration are located in Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and South Dakota.”

The most exciting news it that a pair that winters on Lamar has brought two chicks with them. A second family group with two chicks is currently in South Dakota. I’m hoping that this is a sign that the flock will meet my optimistic hope for a record size that should include 45+ juveniles. The habitat looks great for the returning cranes with blue crabs abundant, wolfberries available, and marsh salinities relatively low.

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Tom Stehn, Whooping Crane Coordinator,U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that the whooping cranes have initiated their southward migration from Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada. Whooping cranes are currently spread all the way from the nesting grounds to the wintering grounds. The first two whooping cranes have arrived at Aransas in Texas, with a pair sighted October 21st by Dr. Felipe Chavez-Ramirez and Walter Wehtje of The Crane Trust who are currently at Aransas. Crane Trust data from the 10 radioed cranes have them in NorthDakota or Canada (including some still in Wood Buffalo National Park), except for one subadult bird that is in Oklahoma. 

Retired CWS biologist Brian Johns spotted 63 whooping cranes at 3 different locations in Saskatchewan on October 21st, so that tells you where the majority of the flock is located.   With so many cranes still in Canada, and the first 2 cranes spotted at Aransas five days past the average first arrival date of October 16th, the migration appears to be about one week later than average this year.  I will start census flights at Aransas in early November.

Observational data compiled by Jeanine Lackey of the Cooperative Whooping Crane Tracking Project in Grand Island, Nebraska has numerous reports coming from North Dakota with nothing from other Flyway States (SD, NE, KS) except the radioed crane in Oklahoma and one white-plumaged bird in eastern Colorado outside of the usual migration corridor that was apparently influenced by sandhill cranes.

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WCCA Newsletter – Fall 2010

October 2009 to September 2010

Highlights:

The Aransas-Wood Buffalo population (AWBP) of whooping cranes rebounded from 247 present in the spring of 2009 to 263 in the spring, 2010. With 46 chicks fledging from a record 74 nests in August, 2010 the flock size should reach record levels this fall expected somewhere around 290. Threats to the flock including land and water development in Texas, the spread of black mangrove on the wintering grounds, the long-term decline of blue crab populations in Texas, sea level rise / land subsidence, and wind farm and power line construction in the migration corridor all continued to be important issues.

Two whooping cranes captured at Aransas and nine in Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) were fitted with GPS transmitters and tracked by satellite. Crews visited migration stopover sites after the birds were present to gather habitat use data. This project is being carried out by The Crane Trust headed up by Dr. Felipe Chavez-Ramirez. It is funded by the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, The Crane Trust, and the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. The tracking is the first done on the AWBP in 25 years and is a top research priority of the Whooping Crane Recovery Team! Since the 1950s, 474 AWBP whooping cranes have died, with 37 carcasses recovered, and cause of death determined in only 17 instances. With the loss of 21.4% of the flock in the 12 months following April 2008, it is imperative that we learn more about whooping crane mortality.

Based on opportunistic sightings, the Cooperative Whooping Crane Tracking Project documented 103 confirmed sightings of whooping cranes in the U.S. Central Flyway during fall, 2009 and 52 sightings in spring, 2010.

A study by Dr. Ken Jones at the University of Georgia genomics lab to better describe the genetic composition of the captive flock got underway in September, 2010. The new genomics technology will derive genetic information from 454 single nucleotide polymorphisms, a substantial increase from the 12 loci used in the past on which most of our genetic decisions involving whooping crane pairings are currently based.

Planning efforts continued for the proposed reintroduction of a nonmigratory flock of whooping cranes at White Lake, Louisiana. White Lake is where the last whooping crane nest in Louisiana had been found in 1939.

Production in the wild from reintroduced flocks in 2010 was somewhat disappointing, though better than last year. In Florida with improved water conditions, 8 of the 9 remaining pairs nested and hatched 4 chicks, but only 1 chick survived to fledge. In Wisconsin, 12 pairs nested, with 3 first nests and 3 re-nests incubated full term and hatching 7 chicks. Two chicks fledged. Nest abandonment consistent with the presence of black flies continued to be a major hurdle for the reintroduction at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).

The captive flocks had a very good production season in 2010. Twenty-four chicks entered the migratory reintroduction program in Wisconsin, and 11 chicks are being formed into a cohort for a possible nonmigratory release in Louisiana in February, 2011. Three chicks of high genetic value were held back for the captive flocks.

Flock sizes are estimated at 263 for the AWBP, 119 for the WI to FL flock, and 25 nonmigratory birds in Florida. With 167 cranes in captivity, the world total (all located in North America) of whooping cranes is 574, up 38 from one year ago.

The full report can be read here…

Whooping Crane Recovery Update: October 2009 to September 2010

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Click the link to view the document…

Patuxent Research Notes

 
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Associated Press – August 19, 2010 3:34 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to bring whooping cranes back into south Louisiana, establishing a flock that lives and breeds on state-owned land in Vermilion Parish.

Whoopers are the world’s most endangered crane, with just under 400 birds in the wild and fewer than 150 captive. The Fish and Wildlife Service is asking for public comment on its proposal to try to establish a flock at the White Lake Wetland Conservation Area, where the cranes once lived and raised young.

The only self-sustaining wild flock migrates between Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. One smaller flock migrates between Wisconsin and Florida, and a second lives in Florida year-round.

Marty Folk, Avian Research,Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent an update on the troubled Florida non-migratory flock of whooping cranes. Even though the news is not good, hopefully it will improve as the introduced whoopers gain experience. The final update on this year’s breeding season in FL describes eight of 11 pairs nested this spring; from 9 nests (1 was a re-nest) 3 pairs hatched 4 chicks and 1 chick survived to fledge.

Marty explained that this spring, in addition to collecting data on incubation behavior with video surveillance equipment, we deployed artificialdata-logging eggs into nests of 5 whooping crane pairs and 1 Florida sandhill crane pair in a pilot study of incubation temperature. One of the most important findings was that there were lapses in incubation by whooping crane pairs at night. We have not documented this problem previously because our video surveillance equipment was not suitable for recording indarkness. Lapses in incubation could affect hatchability of eggs. Deployment at nests of cameras with night-vision may allow identification of the reasons for these incubation lapses. A larger sample size of experimental nests (of both whooping and sandhill cranes) will accommodate comparisons of incubation behavior and temperature between successful and unsuccessful pairs. Therefore we are considering another breeding season of data-collection for this purpose.

By David Hendee
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Nine wild whooping crane chicks in remote Canada are wearing high-tech jewelry, courtesy of a pair of Nebraska scientists.

The endangered chicks were outfitted with miniature Global Positioning System transmitters and color-coded identification bands during a milestone research initiative by the Crane Trust, based near Wood River, Neb.

The telemetry banding was a first for wild whoopers in their nesting grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Northwest Territories, Canada.“It’s a historic moment for whooping crane conservation and for the Crane Trust,” Dr. Felipe Chavez-Ramirez said Monday. Chavez-Ramirez, the Crane Trust science director, led the Canadian enterprise.

Jessica Rempel, left, and Felipe Chavez-Ramirez,attach color bands to the right leg of a whooping crane chick at Wood Buffalo National Park

The GPS devices, he said, will document whooping crane movements throughout the North American migratory route and help identify actual or potential causes of death, such as power lines.

Migration period mortality accounts for more than 80 percent of annual whooping crane deaths, Chavez-Ramirez said. Nearly three dozen whoopers died migrating in 2009. Despite the widely known plight of the species, scientists do not know the main cause or locations of whooper deaths during their migrations.

Only about 260 wild whooping cranes remain. Once nearly extinct, about 500 whoopers exist in three North American flocks.
The Crane Trust owns or manages more than 10,000 acres of land along the Platte River to provide habitat for whooping cranes and other migrating birds.

Wood Buffalo National Park is the only known nesting site of whooping cranes, one of the world’s most endangered species.
Chavez-Ramirez’s team included Jessica Rempel, the Crane Trust’s GPS project leader, and a couple of Canadian biologists. The team scouted the area in a small airplane one day and dropped into the wetlands via helicopter the two next days.

The researchers pursued chicks on foot across wet and brushy terrain and captured the birds by hand. Each chick was measured and weighed, fitted with a telemetry device and checked by a veterinarian. Blood was drawn to determine gender and other things. The birds were released unharmed.

“It was an intense experience,” Chavez-Ramirez said. “We tried to intercept them as they ran. They’d lay flat on the ground, or freeze in vegetation, to hide. Once you get close, they’d try to get you with their beak. We learned to distract them with one hand and grab behind their head with the other.”

Eleven targeted chicks got away.

Chavez-Ramirez said the team was proud of reducing stress on the birds — some birds were captured, handled and released within 17 minutes from the time the researchers jumped out of the helicopter. The longest pursuit and handling time of any bird was 22 minutes.

Each telemetry device is riveted to two bands placed on a chick’s left leg. The device weighs less than 3 ounces. It’s about 2.5 inches long, 1 inch wide and 1.5 inches high. It has a 6-inch antenna. The solar-powered devices have a life expectancy of at least three years.The devices don’t interfere with the cranes’ ability to fly, pair up and nest, Chavez-Ramirez said.

Data from each device is recorded every six hours and uploaded to a satellite every 52 hours. Chavez-Ramirez said scientists already are tracking the chicks’ movement around the wetlands.The scientists also put three colored bands on each crane’s right leg to allow researchers to identify the crane long after the transmitter quits working.

The chicks were born in early June and already have reached their adult height of about 5 feet, Chavez-Ramirez said. The Wood Buffalo National Park cranes will start to migrate south in mid-September.

Contact the writer:
444-1127, [email protected]

Lea Craig-Moore, Wildlife Technician with Environment Canada sent the following report to the Whooping Crane Conservation Association. Lea reports that: “August fledgling surveys have been completed and I am happy to report we found 46 chicks, our second highest year to date. Included in the count were 5 sets of twins, the second highest number on record as well.” This is excellent news after the high mortality suffered by the whooper population during the last two years.

Lea adds, “Despite lower than average precipitation this summer, water levels look good to excellent for this time of year in the crane marshes. No doubt the chicks benefited from the warmer drier summer. There is a great deal of water on the prairies this year so birds will have a lot of choice when it comes to staging this fall.” The Whooping Crane Conservation Association hopes that all the young and adult whoopers will survive and make it to Aransas NWR in Texas this fall. And we seriously hope that the Texas marshes will be healthy with bountiful blue crabs.

The Arkansas Project passes critical stage in Endangered Species Act litigation to protect Whooping Crane

(Corpus Christi, TX — July 28, 2010)

Today, in the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) litigation brought by The Aransas Project (TAP) against officials of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), United States District Judge Janis Jack ruled from the bench to deny all motions to dismiss the litigation.

Proceeding issue-by-issue, Judge Jack entertained arguments from all parties before ruling from the bench to deny each of the motions brought by the defendants and intervenors urging the court to dismiss the case or abstain from hearing it. The ruling clears the path for the litigation to proceed on the fate of the whooping crane, an internationally-recognized endangered species.

TAP legal counsel Jim Blackburn explains, “TAP’s litigation overcame a major hurdle in surviving motions brought by TCEQ and various intervenors.” This significant development in the case followed an approximately 90-minute hearing before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division. Over the course of the hearing, the Office of the Attorney General, flanked by lawyers for intervenors Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) and the Texas Chemical Council (TCC), advanced various arguments seeking to secure the dismissal of TAP’s case as well as urging the court to abstain from hearing the case on grounds that it would interfere with the state’s regulation of its’ water resources.

Following the hearing, TAP legal counsel Jim Blackburn commented, “We are pleased that the Court agreed that our case should move forward. In a case with international implications, this is a significant step in TAP’s efforts to protect this magnificent endangered species.” Blackburn continued, “We are now looking forward to commencing discovery, and digging deeply into the scientific merits which will be central to this case.”

The case is currently set for trial on March 2, 2011.

Background

In March 2010, TAP filed a federal lawsuit against several officials of TCEQ in their official capacities for illegal harm and harassment of Whooping Cranes at and adjacent to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in violation of the Endangered Species Act. TAP seeks a process to ensure that the Crane’s habitat and food sources in the bays and estuaries are protected during times of low flows.

The Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock of Whooping Cranes that winters on the Texas coast is the only natural wild flock remaining in the world. The flock has increased from 16 birds in the early 1940s to a high of 270 in the spring of 2008. The 2008-2009 year was the worst in recent history for the Whooping Crane, with a death toll of 23 birds, or 8.5% of the flock, occurring in Texas during their winter at Aransas. The lack of freshwater inflows to the bays from the Guadalupe and San Antonio Rivers, especially during times of low flows, resulted in very high salinity levels and depleted food and water sources for the Cranes.

About The Aransas Project

The Aransas Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on water management of the Guadalupe River Basin and bays that represents all interests throughout the basin—all the way to the bay. TAP is an alliance of municipalities, businesses, organizations, and citizens working to ensure freshwater flows to the bays and estuaries that protect the winter habitat of the endangered whooping crane. TAP’s focus has brought together a diverse range of groups, unifying an unlikely mix of both conservative and liberal support around this critical issue. Members include Aransas County, Aransas County Navigation District, Town of Fulton, City of Rockport, International Crane Foundation, the Coastal Bend Guides Association and more.