Whooping Crane Conservation Association

The following article describes threats to whooping cranes from habitat loss and human disturbance. In recent years, there have been ongoing habitat losses and we thought our viewers would benefit from articles by biologists who work closely with the birds.  This article was originally published in our Whooping Crane Conservation Association’s (WCCA) Grus Americana newsletter. We thought you may like to review it to learn what prompted WCCA to recently purchase whooping crane habitat in Texas.

 Land development is happening on the Texas coast, and happening quickly. I know of 4 developments planned for lands on which I have observed whooping cranes foraging. The proposed developments are waterfront canal lot subdivisions, places for folks from Houston and San Antonio to keep a boat on the coast and have a second house. This pressure near the crane wintering area has literally sprung up in the last 3 years; I don’t know of anyone that expected it to happen this rapidly.

This type of development is not unprecedented. The small town of Holiday Beach on the Lamar Peninsula was built next to salt marsh that is now occasionally used by whooping cranes. When that development was built, whooping cranes numbered less than 70 in the Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock and the cranes had no need back then to use the salt marshes next to what is now Holiday Beach.

What does all the impending development mean for whooping cranes, and can the species be adequately protected? Let me give you some examples of what is happening. Two developments will potentially impact the 24 whooping cranes that utilize Welder Flats which is located across San Antonio Bay north of Aransas. In 2006, a developer applied to build 776 homes on 680 acres in a development to be called “The Sanctuary” located across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway from one whooping crane winter territory near Port O’Connor. I had seen whooping cranes on a few occasions using the salt marsh on the edge of the proposed development, and once watched a family group walk from the marsh into the uplands to forage. In the process of formal consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, the USFWS decided that the development would not likely jeopardize the continued existence of the whooping crane.

 The Service negotiated with the developer who agreed to do certain things to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the cranes. These included not building any houses in the salt marsh, protecting the salt marsh with a non-development easement, creating freshwater wetlands on one edge of the development to replace wetlands impacted, and providing $200,000 to a conservation group to be used to purchase non-development easements on lands important to whooping cranes. Although a salt marsh and freshwater marsh will be created and include a buffer between them and the homes, no buffer was established along the existing salt marsh strip, so I anticipate that whooping crane use in the remaining narrow strip of salt marsh will be very low due to human presence. A permit for this development was granted by the Corps of Engineers and construction is ongoing.

“The Sanctuary” development near Port O’Connor, Texas that has begun construction. The photo shows the close proximity of the developed area (light color) to a whooping crane territory on nearby Dewberry Island. Photo by Tom Stehn, taken 8/3/07.

 Currently, the pending application by a developer to build 918 residential lots and marina on 700 acres near Seadrift, Texas will remove 136 acres of whooping crane critical habitat. However, that habitat is not the valuable salt marsh used by the cranes on a daily basis. Instead, it is more of an upland/drier marsh habitat, the type of habitat that the cranes only occasionally use to search primarily for wolfberries in the fall or for other food items when foods in the marsh are scarce. Again, I anticipate some kind of conservation easement will be provided to create a buffer between the houses and the salt marsh used by the cranes. I have recommended 300 yards as a reasonable buffer that the cranes need for areas they use to be mostly protected from human development. The developer will also create some small freshwater marshes and provide a permanent source of drinking water needed by the cranes.

 It is important to note the size of these two developments (918 homes and 776 homes). Presently, the only 2 towns in that immediate area are Port O’Connor (population 1,184) and Seadrift (population 1,352). Each development will basically be adding another small town to the Texas coast, increasing demand for fresh water and electricity, and putting more recreational pressure on the lands where the whooping cranes winter. So far, the 2 developments have not physically destroyed the valuable salt marsh habitat preferred by the cranes, but the presence of so many houses near the marsh has me very concerned about human disturbance issues. The purchase of non-development conservation easements on salt marsh and adjacent upland properties used by the cranes would adequately provide needed habitat with a minimum of human disturbance and is an action needed to protect the cranes.

I hope in the next year to update a paper I wrote in 1985 about territory size and the slow expansion of the crane range at Aransas that I have observed in 25 years of doing census flights. With the help of our refuge GIS person, we will measure the acreage of the current crane range, assess how it has changed in size over the years, measure how much adjacent unoccupied habitat is available, and come up with a figure of how many whooping cranes the existing habitat at Aransas will support. I’ve always said there is enough habitat to support 500 whooping cranes at Aransas as the cranes continue to spread out the length of Matagorda and San Jose Islands. But I’m anticipating that our analysis will show that there is not enough existing habitat to provide for 1,000 whooping cranes, the minimum number required for downlisting from endangered to threatened status. And as the Texas coast gets developed, will enough habitat be preserved to winter 5,000-7,000 whooping cranes, possibly the minimum number needed for recovery?

Whooping cranes face many threats including development, reduction of fresh water inflows that will reduce blue crab populations, sea level rise that is expected to make much of the crane marshes too deep for the cranes to use, increasing development in the migration corridor (power lines, wind farms, cell towers), and introduced diseases. I am working closely with the USFWS –Ecological Services to analyze the cumulative impacts that the cranes are facing to determine at what level jeopardy would occur. Currently, I feel strongly that the whooping cranes are facing “death by 1,000 cuts” which is hindering the recovery of the species.

               ****Tom Stehn, Whooping Crane Coordinator, USFWS****

                              (From WCCA’s Newsletter section, Fall 2008)

Trustees of Whooping Crane Conservation Association recently approved expenditure of $286,750 to acquire three tracts of private land currently used by whooping cranes.  These sites are located within the lands designated as Critical Habitat wintering area for whooping cranes along the Texas Coast.  Critical habitat contains those habitat qualities essential to conservation and recovery of the species.  The Trustees believe it is important for the Association to do everything possible to protect these sites from residential and commercial development and to preserve them for continued use by the cranes.  A majority of the funds committed for these acquisitions came from bequests to WCCA from two women. Lurae A Brinkerhoff provided $281,515 in 1998 and Elizabeth F. Overton gave $36,260 in 1999.  The Association is deeply grateful for the donation by these women that will do so much to preserve habitat for the cranes.  The purchase of these sites, scheduled for this summer, will support goals of the Canada/U.S. International Recovery Team.

The Association is partnering with The Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, and The Nature Conservancy, to purchase fee title on two tracts totaling 168 acres of freshwater and estuarine marshes, tidal mudflats, and saline uplands on Copano Bay.  The total cost is estimated to be $348,800 with 25 percent ($86,750) being WCCA’s share.  The southern unit is part of a territory that a pair and their chicks have used for several years.  The northern unit is used by subadults and unpaired adult whooping cranes.  We anticipate that the properties will eventually be transferred into the public trust, and possibly become part of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.  Other protected lands in the vicinity are Goose Island State Park, the Lamar and Tatton Units of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, and the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve.

The Association is also partnering with The Nature Conservancy to acquire a conservation easement on 108.8 acres of private land bordering San Antonio Bay.  The easement will restrict any action that would be detrimental to the conservation purpose for whooping cranes and their habitat.  This area is used as wintering habitat by two dozen whooping cranes often referred to as the Welder Flats population.  The easement would prohibit further development or construction on this tract which borders resort properties known as Falcon Point Ranch. 

 The property is a prime piece of the Ranch, suitable for development, which borders salt marsh used by whooping cranes.  Other protected crane habitats in the vicinity are Welder Flats Wildlife Management Area, Welder Flats Coastal Preserve, Guadalupe River Wildlife Management Area, and Aransas National Wildlife Area.  The Whooping Crane Conservation Association’s $200,000 contribution for the easement will be combined with other public and private funding to fulfill the total real estate, contractual and land acquisition cost of $1,050,187.

Thanks to the love of two women for the beautiful whooping cranes, and their desire to see these birds survive as a species, our Whooping Crane Conservation Association is able to preserve critical wintering habitat on the Texas Coast.  Both women named our Association in their wills.  We wish to honor their memory and contributions.

LURAE AHRENDES BRINKERHOFFF, of Green River, Wyoming, died April 20, 1996.  Born in Los Angeles, California, March, 1940, she earned a degree in music education and continued her training in music, teaching, wildlife, photography, and calligraphy until her death.  She believed that one’s education should never end.  Lurae taught instrumental music in public schools for 24 years and upon her retirement she continued to teach classes on Wyoming Wildlife and served as a conservation volunteer.  From 1986 to 1994 she served as a volunteer at Gray’s Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho, assisting with administrative details, greeting visitors, and doing field studies.  She loved to watch sandhill cranes and cross-fostered whooping cranes, keeping records on their behavior and movements in southeastern Idaho.  She assisted in banding sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans and retrieved and cared for sick or injured birds.  In 1990, the Whooping Crane Conservation Association awarded Lurae a Certificated of Appreciation in recognition of her conservation efforts.  In 1996, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized her substantial contribution towards recovery of the whooping crane.  During her lifetime she received other awards for music, leadership, and photography.  The Gray’s Lake Marsh Overlook, on the refuge, is dedicated in her memory.  In her will she bequeathed $281,515 to the Association and these funds provided a major portion of the monies now committed to acquire wintering habitat for whooping cranes.

ELIZABETH F. “BETTY” OVERTON, of Pueblo, Colorado, died August 27, 1998.  Born August 24, 1915, in Attleboro, Massachusetts, she and her husband Robert B. Overton made generous contributions to the Whooping Crane Conservation Association throughout their lifetime.  Robert, a newspaper columnist and conservationist, preceded her in death in 1994.  Betty worked as a Girl Scout Professional in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Michigan City, Indiana, before joining the Red Cross to work in military hospitals in Hawaii with wounded servicemen during World War II.  After the war she became head of the Girl Scouts in Pueblo, Colorado and first Director of Camp Lazy Acres.  After marriage she became a fifth grade teacher at Central Grade School in Pueblo.  In 1996, Betty received the Whooping Crane Conservation Association’s Certificate of Appreciation for her untiring efforts as Chair of the Information and Education Committee.  Other recognitions of her abilities include the Arkansas Valley Audubon Society Environmental\Education Award, runner-up in the Colorado conservation NACO-Allis Chalmer contest, and a Certificate of Merit from the Silver Star Lodge for service to community youth.  In her will she donated $36,260 for continued support of conservation efforts for recovery of whooping cranes.  Her donation, and that of Ms. Brinkerhoff, made it possible for the Association to protect Texas crane habitats and set them aside as sanctuaries for whooping cranes.

By Marty Folk, Wildlife Biologist, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The first and only video that comprehensively portrays the life history of a pair of whooping cranes raising a chick in the wild

In 2002 a pair of reintroduced whooping cranes nested in an area of central Florida that made it possible to observe and document their entire breeding season, from nest-building through the successful fledging of a chick. Never before had anyone witnessed this complete cycle in the wild, let alone capture it on video.

This chick was the first whooping crane to fledge in the wild in the United States in 63 years (all others had fledged in Canada). Landowners adjacent to the nest marsh named the chick “Lucky”, largely due to the fact that there were many attempts by predators to catch the chick.

Despite the fact that the pair of whoopers were at the young-end of the scale for breeding (they hatched 2 chicks before they turned 4 years of age), and were first-time parents, they had shown “model” parent behavior:

• They successfully tended their eggs for the month-long incubation period, protecting the eggs through several episodes of freezing temperatures and also protecting the eggs from overheating when it was in the 90’s. They hatched both eggs.
• One chick, at a young age, was taken from the nest by a bald eagle while the parents were away with the other chick. [This predation of one chick is “normal” for whooping cranes and has been documented in Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada, where ravens were the predator]. Later, the pair protected the surviving chick from numerous attacks by a pair of bald eagles. About the last time the pair of eagles was seen at the marsh, the whooper parents attacked and “hospitalized” one of the eagles for several weeks before rehabilitators could release the eagle.
• The pair protected their chick a number of times from dogs. At the approach of dogs, one parent would run with the chick while the other parent would “distract” the dogs by running toward them and diverting their attention.
• As is normal for cranes, the parents kept the chick warm at night by “brooding” it on the nest platform. When the water dried up around the nest, the parents built new platforms wherever the water was left in the marsh (this provides a protective “mote” of water around them). The fact that the parents built these platforms after hatching was a behavior previously unknown to science.
• For weeks after the chick hatched, the parents spent a majority of their waking hours catching small prey items to feed the chick. They fed the chick a high-protein diet, concentrating on earthworms, insects, and other organisms small enough for the chick to swallow. On one occasion when Lucky was 26 days old, the parents were observed to feed it 37 times in 5 minutes.

Lucky took his first flight at 76 days of age and had become a skilled and strong flier within 2 weeks. When Lucky was older, and before he became independent of its parents, biologists captured and banded him. The attachment of a radio transmitter would allow biologists to track the chick after it left its parent’s territory. Without the transmitter the chick’s fate would never be known. At the time of capture, a small blood sample was taken. From the sample it was determined that Lucky was a male.

The chick became independent of its parents early in 2003, at which time it dispersed to an area 6 miles away where it spent time with other whooping cranes. During a severe drought, Lucky and another bird were roosting in a large marsh. The water had dried up and apparently was not providing the normal degree of protection from predators, and Lucky was killed by a predator in August 2004. Biologists of course were very disappointed, but at least the mortality was due to “natural” causes.

However, the historical significance of the fledging of this chick remained. Not only had Lucky become the first whooping crane to fledge in the wild in the U.S. since 1939, he was the first whooping crane to fledge as a result of a reintroduction of this species. It was a time of celebration for people from the many cooperating agencies that worked on this introduction project. Many people visited the nest marsh and witnessed some part of this story that is documented in the video.

Lucky and his parents became ambassadors for conservation and especially for the whooping crane species.

This video was originally produced by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in 2003 and was shared with the Whooping Crane Conservation Association, who used it for educational purposes. All monies derived from the sales were used for conservation of the species.

The 2-part video can be viewed online on the Whooping Crane Conservation Association YouTube Channel.

On May 31, the Committee on Appropriations in the U.S. House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2012 (FY12) agriculture spending bill, which included more than $1 billion in cuts for farm conservation programs with “mandatory” funding levels, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The cuts in the 2012 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies Appropriations Act come on top of a $500-million cut to these programs that was included in the final fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution last month. Overall, the bill proposes to cut U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and FDA discretionary programs by 13.4 percent.  This is in addition to a reduction of nearly the same amount that was passed in the FY11 bill.

Read the full article on the Wildlife Management Institute web site.

Mark Bidwell, Whooping Crane Coordinator for the Canadian Wildlife Service reports that he and Kathy St. Laurent (CWS-Ontario) completed this year’s survey of nesting whooping cranes in and around Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) last week. Mark advised that, “We conducted the survey in close cooperation with Parks Canada (PCA) and were accompanied on one day by John McKinnon (PCA) who will also assist during the August survey. All in all, we flew 17.7 hours in a Bell 206 helicopter and 7.1 hours in a Cessna 210 fixed wing. In addition to surveying the usual nesting territories, we did some reconnaissance work in areas identified as potential habitat but that hadn’t been searched recently.”

Mark continued, “We’re pleased to report that we detected a record 75 nests, including a few in areas apparently being colonized by new nesting pairs. We made a number of changes, on scientific and safety grounds, to the way the survey is conducted so were happy to have good results despite the changes. We’ll revisit the nesting territories in August to assess productivity. We will also take colleagues from USGS, USFWS and ICF to mark an additional 10 to 12 birds as part of the ongoing telemetry study that aims to better understand the ecology of, and threats faced by, the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population.”

Tom Stehn, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added that, “The record of 75 nests found on the May surveys, surpasses by one the 74 nests found last year. Habitat conditions looked good, so hopes are high to have a good production season and an increase for the flock in 2011. With luck, a record 300 whooping cranes could make it to Aransas this fall!”

Mark Bidwell also pointed out that, “I appreciate the support for this year’s survey from CWS and Parks Canada, and hope to build on this cooperation in the coming months and years. Many thanks to Kathy St. Laurent and John McKinnon, and especially to Dave Duncan, Mark Wayland, Lesley Dunn, and Stu MacMillan who made their participation in this year’s survey possible.

Spring 2011 WCCA Newsletter

The flock status has been updated for May 2011.

Visit the Flock Status page for more details.

Article by International Crane Foundation — May 11, 2011

The French word for crane, grue, gives us the English word pedigree – from pied de grue, meaning literally “foot of the crane.” The shape of the crane’s foot (right) refers to a succession mark made on French genealogy charts.

On April 10th the first Whooping Crane chick (W1-11) of the season hatched in a wild nest at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in central Wisconsin. The mother of this chick (W1-06) was the first chick to hatch in the wild in Wisconsin in over 100 years. It was an historic day in 2006, and now just five years later – she has produced her own wild offspring. The father (#10-03) of the new chick stems from a captive pair at the San Antonio Zoo. He was released at Necedah NWR in 2003 to learn the migration route behind an ultralight aircraft. The maternal grandparents are both “ultralight” birds. Grandmother (#17-02) was shot during migration in Indiana in 2009.

Tracking parentage and relatedness in Whooping Crane population management is vital because of the genetic bottleneck they went through in the 1930s. Genetic diversity is important because it keeps the population healthy. A team of crane experts manage the lineage of captive Whooping Cranes in a “studbook”, while the reintroduced wild birds are tracked in a database. Read more about the Whooping Crane Conservation story.

May 13, 2011 Update

The Necedah NWR reports that three Whooping Crane chicks hatched this week at the reserve. Unfortunately, the first chick, W1-11, has not been sighted recently. We still celebrate her story and the hope that all three chicks bring for the population!

Wisconsin — May 12 2011

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) are celebrating another success in efforts to reintroduce a wild migratory whooping crane population in eastern North America.

Three whooping crane chicks hatched this week at Necedah NWR in central Wisconsin. The first chick to hatch this season was the offspring of wild whooping crane W1-06.  W1-06 was hatched and raised in 2006 on Necedah NWR and is the first wild offspring from the eastern whooping crane reintroduction project started more than a decade ago.

The additional two chicks are the offspring of other well-established whooping crane pairs.  Sadly, refuge biologists have been unable to locate the first chick in recent monitoring efforts. The chick may have been predated.

“Although we are disappointed by the potential loss of the first chick, we are encouraged by this first successful nesting and hatching of a wild-born chick, from a wild-born parent,” said Necedah National Wildlife Refuge Manager Doug Staller.  “Refuge staff is committed to working toward the ultimate goal of a self-sustaining eastern flock of migratory whooping cranes and actively monitors additional nests of whooping crane pairs on the Refuge.”

There are approximately 105 whooping cranes in the eastern migratory population including at least 20 nesting pairs, also a record number for this reintroduced population. In addition to the three chicks hatched in the wild this week at Necedah NWR, three chicks have fledged in the wild during the course of the reintroduction project, which began in 2001. 

 “The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership’s focus over the next five years is successful reproduction in the wild flock, and the recently hatched chicks, in addition to the three previously fledged wild-hatched chicks are a very promising start to achieving this goal,” said Joel Trick, acting project leader for the Service’s Green Bay Ecological Services Field Office and WCEP representative. “We continue to work to identify the factors that may contribute to nest failure, and are working to address those challenges through active nest management and captive-reared releases.”
This year marks an important transition for whooping crane recovery efforts at Necedah NWR. The effort has shifted from the population depending upon introduction of captive-reared birds to the population being supported through wild whooping cranes producing eggs, hatching chicks and fledging young.

Since whooping cranes have been absent from the upper Midwest for over 120 years, WCEP plans to continue studying factors that improve reproductive success as well as how reintroduced whooping cranes use the habitats they encounter following release. These data will refine the understanding of what determines overall success for whooping crane reintroduction in the upper Midwest.

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