- Comments:
Whooping Cranes are listed as an endangered species throughout the Great Plains.
From an estimated 1,300 individuals in the 1860s, numbers dropped to less than 20 in the
1940s. Conservation measures, including captive rearing and release, have increased the
wild population to about 300 birds. The primary flock breeds in Wood Buffalo National
Park, Alberta and winters 2,500 miles to the south at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge,
Texas. The birds migrate through the Great Plains along a narrow 100-mile wide route
through cropland, shallow wetlands and wide, shallow rivers. Whooping Cranes are usually
seen in late March to mid-April and from mid-September to mid-November. They usually
migrate in family groups or small flocks, fly with their necks and gray-black legs held
straight out and show black wing tips. Immature birds show varying amount of white and
cinnamon-colored feathers. Several white-plumaged species, including geese, swans,
pelicans and egrets, are often misidentified as Whooping Cranes. Lack of winter food
resources, severe weather, pollution and collisions with powerlines all threaten Whooping
Cranes.
Return to The
Shoreline
|
