Whooping Crane Conservation Association

(Corpus Christi, TX — March 11, 2010) The Aransas Project (TAP) filed a federal lawsuit today in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, against several officials of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (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. The defendants named in the suit in their official capacities are the three TCEQ Commissioners, the agency’s Executive Director, and the TCEQ’s South Texas Watermaster.
(To read the entire Press Release (PDF) please click here.)

Monday, April 05, 2010
Marty Folk, Avian Research, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that, “We continue to study the non-migratory flock of whooping cranes in Florida. This is the first report I’m sending out for our 2010 Breeding Season. Please share this within your respective organizations and with other professional associates that might be interested.”

Marty explains, “We entered the 2010 breeding season with 26 birds (10M:16F), 10 pairs. Marsh water levels are the best we’ve seen since 2006. To enhance our knowledge of reproductive biology we have been collecting, since last fall, behavioral observations on frequency of copulations. Also, this spring, in addition to continuing our video surveillance of nests to document incubation behavior, we are conducting a “pilot” study of measuring the temperature within crane nests via artificial data-logging eggs. Partners for this study include Billy Brooks of the USFWS (provided data loggers), Donna Bear-Hull of the Jacksonville Zoo (her team constructed the eggs), and Marilyn Spalding of the University of Florida (necropsy and tissue salvage from collected eggs). My agency (FWC) provided transmitters to go inside the artificial eggs to allow tracking of any “wayward” eggs that might disappear from nests. I don’t have room here to go into detail regarding the egg construction and deployment protocols, but let me summarize it to say that single egg clutches are simply supplemented with an artificial data-logging egg. For 2 egg clutches we remove a natural egg and leave the data-logging one. Natural eggs collected from the wild are humanely killed and if fertile, tissues used for IBD research. We are collecting concurrent data on behavior (gathered via video surveillance) and nest microclimate (from the data-loggers) from nests of whooping and Florida sandhill cranes. Results from this work may allow us to:

1) compare, contrast, and describe basic behavioral biology of nesting whooping and sandhill cranes
2) determine if there are behavioral reasons why some whooping cranes are unsuccessful at hatching eggs in Florida
3) make recommendations to captive facilities on how to adjust incubators to improve hatching success
4) provide baseline data for successful incubation behavior that can be used for comparisons with other reintroduced flocks of cranes.”

Several groups have done some work with data-logging eggs with nesting captive cranes (George Gee et al., Calgary Zoo), but to my knowledge no-one has done this with wild crane nests. The Florida flock of whooping cranes presents a unique research opportunity. The chances of this flock becoming self-sustaining are low, and there are no plans for further releases. However, the flock is available for study and experimental manipulation at a level that has not yet been conducted with other crane flocks.
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Marty continues, “It has been an interesting breeding season. Thus far 6 whooper nests have been initiated. The first nest (Lake County) failed when the pair abandoned their nest for unknown reasons. We do not suspect it was in response to the deployment of the data-logging egg because they didn’t abandon their nest until several days after deployment of the egg. This pair re-nested and currently are actively tending their nest.

Another nest was initiated in Osceola County. This nest failed within the range of dates for “expected hatching”. Early in incubation we had deployed an artificial egg into the nest. Upon visiting the failed nest, the artificial egg was found in several pieces and there were teeth marks in the pieces. The teeth marks were similar in appearance to those seen when alligators have chewed on transmitters. Despite this, the egg transmitter and datalogger were successfully recovered from the floor of the marsh. The natural egg was missing. The nesting pair was not tending the nest and the female was found to be missing an entire leg (there were no blood stains on the bird, simply no leg visible below the feathers. Fortunately it was not the transmittered leg that was missing). The bird was flight capable and wary. The quality of the surveillance video for this nest was very marginal due to the distance between the camera and nest, however, it did show that the evening (several hours before sunset) prior to the discovery of the failed nest, one bird struggled near the nest while the other stood on the nest with outspread wings. Apparently an alligator caught the bird in “broad daylight”. The night after this discovery (the female’s 2nd night as a one-legged crane), she was taken by a bobcat. This was a 10 year-old female.

Another nest in a vast marshy area of Lake Okeechobee came as quite a surprise because the “pair” consisted of 2 females. The older bird had nested previously with a male, but now she was with a wild-hatched bird that had been identified via blood sample as a female. Of course there can be “errors” in the identification of gender. When this pair moves to an accessible/assessable location we will observe them for behavioral clues as to gender. They currently are in a remote area 5 miles from the nearest uplands. (Monitoring has been from the air).

The next nest was initiated in Lake County. The male of this pair last nested in 2006 with a different female in the same marsh. 2006 was the last time, until now, that the marsh had water. This spring’s nest, 4 years later, is within 80 m of where the 2006 nest was. We are collecting behavioral and temperature data from this nest.

A new nest was discovered just now in Lake County. Two other whooper pairs have been observed doing some nest-building so we may have more whooper nests to study in the near future.

In addition to the whooper nests above, we have collected behavioral data at one Florida sandhill crane nest. We plan to collect behavioral and temperature data at one or more additional sandhill crane nests yet this season.

The seventh aerial census of the 2009-10 whooping crane season was conducted March 9th, 2010 in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, Texas with USFWS observer Tom Stehn. Sighted on the flight were 193 adults and 18 juveniles = 211 total whooping cranes. Fog rolling in off the Gulf in the late afternoon prevented completion of the census. No evidence of mortality was noted on the flight other than the one juvenile that had died earlier in the winter. The flight again provided solid evidence of 20 family groups currently at Aransas. With one juvenile last seen in Oklahoma December 25th that apparently separated from its parents during migration and is presumably okay and wintering in an unknown location, and the S. Sundown Island chick that has died at Aransas, this accounts for 22 of the 22 juveniles found in Canada during the mid-August fledging surveys. With the one documented mortality this winter, the current flock size is estimated at 242 + 21=263.

March 9th – Recap of whooping cranes (211) found at Aransas:

[TABLE=9]

* Census incomplete due to presence of fog.

Some cranes continue to leave their marsh territories and are searching for food on the uplands. Upland areas on the barrier islands are flooded, with numerous wet swales on the uplands up to the beach dunes. Overall habitat use documented on the flight included 27 cranes on unburned uplands (13%, or half of the previous flight’s total), 2 in open bays, 3 at a game feeder at Welder Flats, 0 on prescribed burns, and 179 (85%) in salt marsh. Low numbers of 2-3 inch blue crabs have moved into the marshes with recent high tides, and more foraging on crabs has been noted, although blue crab numbers are still low.

Flight Conditions: Winds were light and flight conditions were smooth. Visibility was challenging throughout the flight due to all the moisture in the air. Late afternoon sunshine was often shining in our faces so that it was only possibly to see cranes reliable heading away from the sun. Late afternoon fog rolling onto the barrier islands prevented us from completing the census. The largest group sizes observed were 9 birds seen in the marsh on San Jose and 7 on the uplands on Matagorda Island.

Spring Migration, 2010

The single white-plumaged whooping crane confirmed present at Salt Plains NWR in northern Oklahoma on February 24th and 26th apparently moved on to the Platte River in Nebraska where it was confirmed on March 5th. No other whooping cranes are believed to have left Aransas.
– Tom Stehn, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

The sixth aerial census of the 2009-10 whooping crane season was conducted February 16, 2010 in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, Texas with USFWS observer Tom Stehn. Sighted on the flight were 237 adults and 19 juveniles = 256 total whooping cranes. No evidence of mortality was noted on the flight other than the one juvenile that had died earlier in the winter. The radioed family on Lamar Peninsula was overlooked on the flight, but GPS data indicates it was on Lamar before and after the census flight. Since it has not been documented leaving Lamar since being tagged in December, it is considered very unlikely that they had moved over to San Jose to account for the extra family found there during the census. The flight provided a firm tally of the 20 family groups currently at Aransas. With one juvenile last seen in Oklahoma December 25th that apparently separated from its parents during migration and is presumably okay and wintering in an unknown location, and the S. Sundown Island chick that has died at Aransas, this accounts for 22 of the 22 juveniles found in Canada during the mid-August fledging surveys. This is one more juvenile accounted for than on previous survey flights this winter. With the one documented mortality this winter, the current flock size is estimated at 242 + 21=263.

February 16th – Recap of whooping cranes (256) found at Aransas:

[TABLE=8]

* One family group was overlooked.
** Ties record high for Matagorda Island set during the 2008-09 winter.

The territories of adult cranes remain difficult to figure out as many of the crane pairs have left their marsh and are searching for food on the uplands. Upland areas on the barrier islands are flooded, with numerous wet swales on the uplands up to the beach dunes. Three cranes on Matagorda Island were in one of these flooded swales next to the dunes. Overall habitat use documented included an unusually high 67 cranes (26%) on unburned uplands, 16 in open bays, two at a game feeder south of the Big Tree on Lamar, 0 on prescribed burns, and 171 (67%) in salt marsh. Blue crabs are at low levels and the cranes are having to look for other sources of food, although some cranes continue to catch a few crabs. This is a stressful time of winter for the whooping cranes as evidenced by all the cranes on uplands.

No whooping cranes have been reported up the coast at Smith Marsh in Matagorda County located west of the Nature Conservancy’s Mad Island Marsh Preserve since 1/17/10. Two whooping cranes are continuing to winter northwest of Austwell on the Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Area managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

I noted one thing on the flight that I had never observed previously. Twenty sandhill cranes on the southern end of the crane range on San Jose Island flushed from the census aircraft and flew a very short distance to stand in open bay habitat. I had never seen sandhill cranes before in open bay habitat.

Flight Conditions: Visibility was excellent throughout the flight, though the sun angle on late afternoon transects made for difficult viewing conditions when heading into the sun at Welder Flats. Winds were light and flight conditions were smooth until mid-afternoon, enabling us to travel at approximately 130 knots for most of the flight. Due to reported crane movements, the search area was expanded further out into upland areas. This paid off, as cranes were found near the beach dunes on Matagorda Island, inland in a pasture at Welder Flats and on Aransas National Wildlife Refuge uplands. The largest group size observed was 9 birds seen on the uplands on San Jose and in the marsh on Matagorda Island.

Post-Flight Update
Food availability improved for the cranes during the last week in February with more cranes observed feeding on 2-3-inch blue crabs. Upland swales remain very wet and bay salinities remain moderate < 10 ppt.

Spring Migration, 2010
A single white-plumaged whooping crane was confirmed present at Salt Plains NWR in northern Oklahoma on February 24th and 26th. Since we did not know of any other white-plumaged whooping cranes in the Flyway this winter, this must be a case of a whooper on the Texas coast getting influenced by sandhill cranes and starting the journey ahead of the normal time for whooping cranes. Except for birds that had a history of separating from their parents as juveniles, I think it would be the earliest migration start on record.

– Tom Stehn, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

NEWS RELEASE from the U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE
January 21, 2010

For more information on the project and its partners, visit the WCEP website at: http://www.bringbackthecranes.org.

Ten endangered whooping cranes arrived yesterday on their wintering grounds at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Citrus County, Florida. The other 10 “Class of 2009” ultralight-led cranes reached their final wintering destination at St. Marks NWR in Wakulla County, Florida on January 13.

These 20 cranes are the ninth group to be guided by ultralight aircraft more than 1,200 miles from Necedah NWR in central Wisconsin to the Gulf coast of Florida. The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), an international coalition of public and private organizations, is conducting the reintroduction project in an effort to restore this endangered species to part of its historic range in eastern North America. At 89 days, this was the second longest ultralight-led migration since WCEP began reintroducing whooping cranes. Unsuitable flying weather caused delays along the migration route.

“This Class of 2009 brings another exciting year for this great partnership, and it gets us one step closer to seeing the recovery of this magnificent species,” said Michael Lusk, Refuge Manager at Chassahowitzka NWR. “The staff at Chassahowitzka NWR worked hard to make sure that everything was ready for the arrival of the birds. We are very excited to be a part of this project and to be able to share our excitement with our partners at the St. Marks NWR.”

This is the second year the cranes have wintered at two separate locations. The decision to split the flock came after the loss in February 2007 of 17 of the 18 Class of 2006 whooping cranes in a severe storm at Chassahowitzka NWR. WCEP hopes the two wintering locations will help reduce the risk of another catastrophic loss.

In addition to the 20 birds led south by project partner Operation Migration’s ultralights, nine cranes made their first southward migration this fall as part of WCEP’s Direct Autumn Release (DAR) program. Biologists from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reared the cranes at Necedah NWR and released them in the company of older cranes from whom the young birds learned the migration route. One of the DAR birds arrived in Lake County, Florida earlier this month. Seven of the cranes migrated to Tennessee and one is located in Indiana. All of the DAR birds are in the company of older whooping cranes. This is the fifth year WCEP has used this DAR method.

Whooping cranes that take part in the ultralight and DAR reintroductions are hatched at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., and at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis. Chicks are raised under a strict isolation protocol and to ensure the birds remain wild, handlers adhere to a no-talking rule and wear costumes designed to mask the human form.

In 2001, Operation Migration’s pilots led the first whooping crane chicks, conditioned to follow their ultralight aircraft surrogates, south from Necedah NWR to Chassahowitzka NWR. Each subsequent year, WCEP biologists and pilots have conditioned and guided additional groups of juvenile cranes to Chassahowitzka NWR. Once led south, the cranes are able to migrate on their own, without assistance, in following years.

In the spring and fall, project staff from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service track and monitor the released cranes in an effort to learn as much as possible about their unassisted journeys and the habitat choices they make both along the way and on their summering and wintering grounds.

Most graduated classes of whooping cranes spend the summer in central Wisconsin, where they use areas on or near the Necedah NWR, as well as other public and private lands.

Whooping cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there are only about 550 birds in existence, approximately 375 of them in the wild. Aside from the 85 birds reintroduced by WCEP, the only other migrating population of whooping cranes nests at the Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada and winters at the Aransas NWR on the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migrating flock of approximately 30 birds lives year-round in the central Florida Kissimmee region.

Whooping cranes, named for their loud and penetrating unison calls, live and breed in wetland areas, where they feed on crabs, clams, frogs and aquatic plants. They are distinctive animals, standing five feet tall, with white bodies, black wing tips and red crowns on their heads.

WCEP asks anyone who encounters a whooping crane in the wild to please give them the respect and distance they need. Do not approach birds on foot within 200 yards; try to remain in your vehicle; do not approach in a vehicle within 100 yards. Also, please remain concealed and do not speak loudly enough that the birds can hear you. Finally, do not trespass on private property in an attempt to view whooping cranes.

Many other flyway states, provinces, private individuals and conservation groups have joined forces with and support WCEP by donating resources, funding and personnel. More than 60 percent of the project’s budget comes from private sources in the form of grants, public donations and corporate sponsors.

To report whooping crane sightings, visit the WCEP whooping crane observation webpage at: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/whoopingcrane/sightings/sightingform.cfm.

The fifth aerial census of the 2009-10 whooping crane season was conducted January 21, 2010 in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, Texas with USFWS observer Tom Stehn. Sighted on the flight were 235 adults and 18 juveniles = 253 total whooping cranes. This was 10 birds less than the last flight conducted 1-05-10. However, flight time was limited by fog that did not burn off until 10:30 AM, so some cranes were presumably overlooked, as search time had to be condensed. More telling than the total number of cranes tallied was the distribution observed that seemed to confirm the estimated flock size. However, it definitely appears that one juvenile has died since arriving at Aransas. This juvenile had been found in the refuge’s South Sundown Island territory. On today’s flight, a pair believed to be the S. Sundown Island pair was seen very close to their territorial neighbors to the south. It seemed clear that I was looking at adjacent territorial pairs, and that the S. Sundown Island pair was missing its chick. It is also possible that the Dewberry Island pair at Welder’s Flats has lost their chick, but it is also possible they had moved over to the refuge’s Power Lake on Matagorda Island where there was an unexpected family.

The territories of adult cranes remain difficult to figure out as many of the crane pairs have left their marsh and are searching for food on the uplands. On today’s flight, an unusually high 52 cranes were on unburned uplands, 4 were on the C14 refuge burn, 13 were in open bays, two were at a game feeder south of the Big Tree on Lamar, and 182 (72%) were in salt marsh. Blue crabs are at extremely low levels and the cranes are having to look for other sources of food. This is a very stressful time of winter for the whooping cranes. One additional juvenile that apparently separated from its parents during migration was sighted near Medford, Oklahoma December 14-25 has not been re-sighted but is presumably doing okay in an unknown location.
The flock size is currently estimated at 244 adults + 19 juveniles = 263.

January 21st – Recap of whooping cranes (253) found at Aransas:

[TABLE=7]
* The presence of one chick last seen in Oklahoma makes the current estimated flock size 263, including 19 chicks. One chick has died since arriving at Aransas.

One whooping crane was sighted on 1/17/10 by a TPWD biologist on the Smith Marsh in Matagorda County. The Smith Marsh is private property just to the west of the Nature Conservancy’s Mad Island Marsh Preserve a considerable ways up the coast from Aransas.

Flight Conditions: Visibility was excellent throughout the flight, though the sun angle on late afternoon transects made for difficult viewing conditions when heading into the sun. Winds were light and flight conditions were smooth, enabling us to travel at approximately 130 knots for most of the flight. Due to reported crane movements, the search area was expanded much further out into upland areas. However, only three additional cranes were found in the uplands at Welder Flats, whereas 12 had been located there the previous week. This difference seemed to account for the 10 fewer cranes found on today’s flight compared to the previous flight. In addition, no cranes were found at the refuge’s Burgentine Lake, whereas seven had been present on the previous flight. The largest group size observed was seven birds seen on the uplands on San Jose and in the marsh on Matagorda Island.
– Tom Stehn, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

The fourth aerial census of the 2009-10 whooping crane season was conducted January 5, 2010 in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, Texas with USFWS observer Tom Stehn. Sighted on the flight were 244 adults and 19 juveniles = 263 total. This was an increase of 19 cranes since the previous flight conducted December 10th when some birds had still been in migration and 244 cranes were accounted for. One additional juvenile separated from its parents was sighted near Medford, Oklahoma December 14-25 which brings the current estimated flock size to 264. In addition, the South Sundown Island chick known to be at Aransas was not found on today’s flight, so one chick can be added to the peak flock size for the 2009-10 winter (244+21=265). It is not known if the entire South Sundown Island family group was overlooked on today’s flight, or possibly the chick has died and its parents were sighted off of their territory but not identified as such during the flight.

January 5th – Recap of whooping cranes (264) found at Aransas and Oklahoma:

[TABLE=6]

*The presence of one chick last seen in Oklahoma makes the current estimated flock size 264, including 20 chicks.

The discovery of 19 additional cranes is really good news. If cranes moved around during the flight, I am concerned that perhaps this tally is artificially high by a few birds due to double counting them. Future census flights will attempt to pin this down. The current estimated flock size of 264 is surprisingly high but indicates that survival between spring and fall, 2009 was excellent. The 21 wintering chicks that successfully migrated out of the 22 fledged in Canada added to the estimated flock size of 247 in spring, 2009 meant that a maximum of 268 cranes could have arrived at Aransas this fall. One crane seen injured in Saskatchewan in the fall migration is believed to have perished. The fact that we are accounting for 265 out of the potential 267 is excellent news.

Migration Update: The solitary whooping crane near Medford, Oklahoma was last seen Christmas Day. It apparently has moved further south. Four cranes in the second week in December west of Mad Island Preserve in Matagorda County Texas about 40 miles northeast of Aransas have moved on and presumably were seen on today’s census flight. Two cranes that have been staying east of Tivoli about 15 miles north of Aransas were re-located on today’s flight in the Hynes Bay Unit of the Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Area operated by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Habitat Use and Food Resources: Tides have lowered somewhat with about 30% of the mud flats dry on San Jose Island. However, few observations have been made this winter of cranes feeding in open bay habitat, and only 6 cranes were in open bay habitat on today’s flight. Salinities in San Antonio Bay are currently 14 parts per thousand, low enough that the cranes are drinking directly from the salt marsh. On today’s flight, 65 cranes were located in unburned uplands, 10 were on refuge prescribed burns, 12 were at feeders on private lands, and 2 were on shell roads. The presence of so many cranes in the uplands and cranes traveling longer distances than usual into uplands is indicative of food scarcity. A crab count conducted December 18th found only 1 crab. No commercial crab traps were sighted on today’s flight, another indication that crab populations are at low levels. The cranes since Christmas have not been observed catching blue crabs, whereas before that, some crabs were still being taken. A few wolfberries were still available to the cranes the week before Christmas but have tapered off since then. With blue crabs in very short supply and the wolfberry crop finished for the year, the cranes are entering the period of the winter when food shortages sometimes occur and the cranes end up using up fat reserves to survive.

Flight Conditions: Visibility was excellent for most of the flight. Due to reported crane movements, the search area was expanded much further out into upland areas. This turned out to be very important in finding additional cranes. Eight cranes were found in an area rooted up by hogs in the former farm field enclosure across the refuge’s East Shore Road about 0.7 miles from the salt marsh. Twelve cranes were sighted at feeders at Welder Flats, 8 of them at a location that is rarely searched. Seven cranes were found northwest of the refuge’s Burgentine Lake where cranes had been reported back on December 10th. The largest group size observed was 8 birds seen both on the uplands on San Jose and at a game feeder at Welder Flats. Large groups seen in salt marsh included 7 birds on the south end of Matagorda Island and 6 on Lamar’s Cow Chip Bayou.
– Tom Stehn, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Since my last census flight on 12/10/09, I have received confirmed reports of 6 more whooping cranes in the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population, including two more chicks. So the estimated flock size of 238 has now been increased to 244 (223 adults + 21 chicks). The 21 chicks accounted for indicate very good survival from the 22 that fledged in Canada.

The following are the 6 cranes added since my flight:

2+1 on a part of the refuge I did not fly over were reported by the refuge fire crew 2 days in a row, including the afternoon I was flying.

2 + 0 flown directly over but not seen on the Lamar Peninsula – they were reported by a refuge volunteer walking his dog that saw my plane go over them. They were in uplands so I can see how I missed them.

0+1 confirmed 12/14/09 in northern OK about 30 miles east of Salt Plains NWR. The juvenile was by itself with no sandhill’s around.

My next flight may not be until the first week in January. I hope and expect the flock total to go up a few more to at least reach the 247 present last spring.
– Tom Stehn

The third aerial census of the 2009-10 whooping crane season was conducted December 10, 2009 in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, Texas with USFWS observer Tom Stehn. Sighted on the flight were 211 adults and 19 juveniles = 230 total. This was an increase of 20 cranes since the previous flight conducted December 2nd. With 230 at Aransas and 8 known to still be in migration, currently 238 whooping cranes can be accounted for. I am expecting up to 22 juveniles based on August fledging surveys done on the nesting grounds by CWS. With that number of juvenile produced, the flock may experience a break-even year with a flock total around 247 expected.

December 10th – Recap of whooping cranes (230) found at Aransas on the aerial:
[TABLE=2]
*Since 6 family groups were present on Matagorda Island on the December 2nd flight, it is possible that one family group was overlooked on today’s flight. However, it is also possible a Matagorda Island family group from N. Power Lake had moved over to N. Shoalwater Bay where there was an additional family on today’s flight.

Migration Update: Cold fronts that reached Aransas on December 4th and 9th helped 20 additional cranes complete their 2,400-mile long migration. Additional cranes are known to still be in migration. Four were present at Quivira NWR on December 7th even though the marshes were about 90% frozen. Four were recently sighted west of Mad Island Preserve in Matagorda County Texas about 40 miles northeast of Aransas. Two cranes that have been staying east of Tivoli about 15 miles north of Aransas were located on today’s flight in the Hynes Bay Unit of the Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Area operated by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Crane Identities: We are not sure if the Lobstick pair has returned this fall. However, 2 cranes that may have been the Lobsticks were sighted on the Lobstick territory on December 9 and 10. If present, the Lobstick male is 31 years old.

Habitat Use: Tides measured at the refuge boat ramp were high (2.7 feet). Salinities currently at 8 parts per thousand in San Antonio Bay have dropped noticeably in November and December so that the cranes are drinking directly from the marsh and have stopped making flights to fresh water dugouts. An extremely heavy rain event on November 20th with some coastal areas getting up to 16 inches has filled refuge dugouts and swales and flooded portions of the uplands on San Jose Island and Welder Flats. Conditions are very wet. Since that rain event, some blue crabs seem to have moved into the marshes, and some cranes have recently been observed catching blue crabs 2-3 inches in size. However, 65 cranes on today’s flight were sighted on uplands. These cranes were mostly foraging on patches of bare ground, some flooded and some dry. This behavior is indicative of a less than optimal food situation for the cranes. Although some wolfberry flowers are still present in the marshes, few berries are present and have stopped making up a significant part of the crane diet. An additional 5 cranes on today’s flight were on a shell road in the uplands. No cranes were at game feeders or in open bay habitat, and there are currently no prescribed burns in the crane area. The largest group size observed was 8 birds seen on the uplands on San Jose accompanied by sandhill cranes. More black mangrove was noted on Ayes and Roddy islands.

Flight Conditions: Visibility was good for most of the flight, but darker overcast at times made for somewhat challenging viewing conditions. Due to limited flight hours, the aircraft was usually kept at 140 knots making it a lively task to find all the cranes. Total flight time was 4.6 hours and we felt a very good count was achieved despite some crane movements that had to be sorted out as cranes moved to and from the uplands.

– Tom Stehn, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

The second aerial census of the 2009-10 whooping crane season was conducted 02 December 2009 in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, Texas with USFWS observer Tom Stehn. Visibility was very good for most of the flight, but mid-day winds gusting to 25 from the northwest made for a bumpy ride and made the made the task of finding cranes more difficult. Sighted were 191 adults and 17 juveniles = 208 total. This was an increase of 117 cranes since the last flight conducted November 12th. I am expecting up to 22 juveniles based on August fledging surveys done on the nesting grounds by CWS. With that number of juvenile produced, the flock may experience a break-even year with a flock total around 247 expected.

November 12th – Recap of cranes (208) found at Aransas on the aerial:

[TABLE=3]

Migration Update: Cold fronts that reached Aransas on November 16, 20, 24, and 30 helped the cranes complete their 2,400-mile long migration that had begun 2 months ago for some birds.
Additional cranes are known still in migration in KS, OK, and TX, although numbers are much lower than the big wave of cranes that moved through OK and KS in mid-November. Three other whooping cranes are presently near the coast. On December 1st, one whooping crane was confirmed in a flock of sandhills near Collegeport, about 50 miles northeast of Aransas. Two cranes have been staying north of Tivoli about 15 miles north of Aransas. The addition of these 3 cranes brings the estimated total on the coast to 211.

Crane Identities: The Mustang Lake pair of cranes visible from the refuge observation tower arrived approximately November 24th.

Habitat Use: Tides measured at the refuge boat ramp were high (2.5 feet). The marshes on San Jose Island were notably flooded with large expanses of open water. Salinities dropped noticeably in November so that the cranes are drinking directly from the marsh and have stopped making flights to fresh water dugouts. Salinities on 12/02 were measured at 15 parts per thousand (ppt) at the refuge boast ramp and at 5 ppt in the adjacent marsh. The refuge received 7.8 inches of rain in November as El Nino ended the drought. The largest rain received was 4.35 inches on November 20th. Other areas including Rockport and Lamar got between 12 and 16 inches of rain during that same storm event.

The cranes have responded to the flooded conditions with 33 cranes seen on uplands during today’s flight. I’ve seen this before when cranes utilized freshly flooded uplands with Aransas having received additional rain December 1st. Two cranes were near an upland crane feeder on the Lamar Peninsula. No cranes were in open bay habitat, and there are currently no prescribed burns in the crane area. The largest group size observed was 7 birds seen on in salt marsh on the south end of Matagorda Island. Numerous photographs were taken to document the spread of black mangrove into the crane area.
– Tom Stehn, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge