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The 'Whooping Crane' (''Grus americana''), named for its whooping call, is a very large and endangered crane. It is the tallest North American bird and the only crane species found solely in North America.

Contents

Physical Characteristics

Habitat

Diet

Conservation Efforts

Popular Culture

References

External links

Physical Characteristics

Adult Whooping Cranes are white; they have a red crown and a long, dark, pointed bill while the immature Whooping Cranes are pale brown. They have long dark legs which trail behind in flight and a long neck that is kept straight in flight. Black wing tips can be seen in flight on adult Whooping Cranes.
The species stands nearly 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall with a wingspan of 2.3 meters (7.5 feet). Males weigh on average 7.5 kg (16.5 lbs), while females weigh about 6.5 kg (14.3 lbs).[1]The only other very large, long-legged white birds in North America are the Great Egret, which is over a foot shorter and one-seventh the weight of this crane, and the Wood Stork, which is about 30% smaller than the crane. Both are also very different in structure.

Habitat

Their breeding habitat is the muskeg of the taiga; the only known remaining nesting location is Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and the surrounding area. With the recent Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership Reintroduction Project, whooping cranes nested naturally for the first time in 100 years in the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Central Wisconsin. See the Operation Migration link below for further information about the Reintroducation Project. They nest on the ground, usually on a raised area in a marsh. The female lays 1 to 3 eggs, usually in late-April to mid-May. The blotchy, olive-colored eggs average 62.4 mm (2.5 inches) in breadth and 98.4 mm (4 inches) in length, and weigh about 189 grams (6.7 oz). The incubation period is 29-35 days. Both parents brood the young, although the female is more likely to directly tend to the young. Usually no more than one young bird survives in a season. The parents often feed the young for 6-8 months after birth and the terminus of the offspring-parent relationship occurs after about 1 year.
Breeding populations winter along the coast of Texas near Corpus Christi on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Matagorda Island, Isla San Jose, and
portions of the Lamar Peninsula and Welder Point, which is on the east
side of San Antonio Bay.[2]
Among the many potential nest and brood predators include American Black Bear (''Ursus americanus''), Wolverine (''Gulo luscus''), Gray Wolf (''Canis lupus''), Red Fox (''Vulpes fulva''), Lynx (''Lynx canadensis''), Bald Eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus''), and Common Raven (''Corvus corax''). Adults have very few predators, as even eagles are unlikely to be able to take one down. The Bobcat is the only natural predator known to be both powerful and stealthy enough to prey on adult Whooping Cranes away from their nesting grounds.
The Whooping Crane is endangered mainly as a result of habitat loss. At one time, the range for these birds extended throughout midwestern North America. In 1941, the wild population consisted of 21 birds. Since then, the population has increased somewhat, largely due to conservation efforts. Recent estimates suggest that there are about 373 Whooping Cranes living in the wild, and another 145 living in captivity. The Whooping Crane is still one of the rarest birds in North America.

Diet

These birds forage while walking in shallow water or in fields, sometimes probing with their bills. They are omnivorous and slightly more inclinced to animal material than most other cranes. In their Texas wintering grounds, this species feeds on various crustaceans, molluscs, fish (such as eel), berries, snakes and aquatic plants. Potential foods of breeding birds in summer include frogs, mice, voles, smaller birds, fish, reptiles, dragonflies, damselflies, other aquatic insects, crayfish, clams, snails, aquatic tubers, berries, grasshoppers, and crickets. Waste grain is an important food for migratory birds.

Conservation Efforts

Attempts have been made to establish other breeding populations in the wild. One project by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service was initiated in 1975 involved cross-fostering with Sandhill Cranes to establish a second self-sustaining flock. Although 85 chicks from the 289 Whooping Crane eggs transplanted into Sandhill Crane nests learned to migrate[3], the Whooping Cranes failed to mate and reproduce; the project was discontinued in 1989[4]. A second involved the establishment of a non-migratory population near Kissimmee, Florida, by a cooperative effort led by the U.S. and Canadian Whooping Crane Recovery Team in 1993[5]. As of December 18, 2006, this population numbers about 53 birds[6]; while problems with high mortality and lack of reproduction are addressed no further birds will be added to the population.
A third attempt has involved the reintroduction of the Whooping Crane to a new flyway established east of the Mississippi river. This project uses isolation rearing of young Whooping Cranes and trains them to follow ultralight aircraft, a method of re-establishing migration routes pioneered by Bill Lishman and Joe Duff when they led Canada Geese in migration from Ontario, Canada, to Virginia and South Carolina in 1993[7]. The organization which is responsible for the ultralight migrations is Operation Migration [8], and the larger group, WCEP (the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership), oversees all aspects of the Eastern Introduced Flock.
The cranes are costume reared from hatching, taught to follow an ultralight aircraft, fledged over their future breeding territory in Wisconsin, and led by ultralight on their first migration from Wisconsin to Florida; the birds learn the migratory route and then return, on their own, the following spring. This reintroduction began in fall 2001 and has added birds to the population in each subsequent year. As of January, 2007, there were 82 surviving Whooping Cranes in the Eastern Migratory Population (EMP), including 18 yearlings lead by ultralight aircraft in fall, 2006 and 4 yearlings released in Wisconsin and allowed to migrate on their own (Direct Autumn Release (DAR)). Fourteen of these birds had formed seven pairs; two of the pairs nested and produced eggs in spring 2005. The eggs were lost due to parental inexperience. In spring 2006 some of the same pairs have again nested and are incubating eggs. Two Whooping Crane chicks were hatched from one nest, on June 22, 2006. Their parents are both birds that were hatched and led by ultralight on their first migration in 2002. At just 4 years old these are young parents. The chicks are the first Whooping Cranes hatched in the wild, of migrating parents, east of the Mississippi, in over 100 years. One of these young chicks was unfortunately predated on the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. The other young chick, a female, has successfully migrated with her parents to Florida. However, in early February, 2007, 17 yearlings in a group of 18 were killed by the 2007 Central Florida Tornados. All birds in that flock were believed to have died in the storms, but then a signal from one of the transmitter of "Number 615" indicated that it had survived. The bird was subsequently relocated in the company of some Sandhill Cranes. It passed away in late April from an as yet unknown cause, possibly related to the storm trauma. Two of the 4 DAR Whooper chicks from 2006 were also lost due to predation, bringing the total of Whooping cranes in the Eastern Introduced Flock to 57 as of spring, 2007.[9] [10]

Popular Culture

★ In the movie PCU the school mascot is changed to the Whooping Crane.

★ In an episode of King of the Hill, Bobby and his friends are sent on a snipe hunt and wind up injuring an endangered whooping crane. In the end the Whooping Crane is alive as everyone thinks it is dead.

★ Whooping Cranes feature in the Gus Van Sant film ''Even Cowgirls Get The Blues'', when a group of renegade cowgirls take an entire flock of Whooping Cranes captive by drugging them with peyote buttons. Uma Thurman's character in this film (''Sissy Hankshaw'') dresses as a Whooping Crane whilst filming an advertisement for feminine deodorants.

★ See Fly Away Home

References

★ Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is endangered

★ Natural History article by Paul Johnsgard (1982)

★ Whooping Crane(''Grus americana'')

★ ''Grus americana''

★ Whooping Crane: On a Lost Path

★ Whooping Crane Flock Status

★ Whooping Crane

External links

★ ARKive - images and movies of the Whooping Crane ''(Grus americana)''

★ International Crane Foundation's Whooping Crane page Does breeding and is responsible for the DAR release birds

★ Patuxent Wildlife Research Center The largest captive breeding population is housed here. They breed and train the young for release into the wild

★ Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership This group overseeing the EMP reintroduction efforts

★ Operation Migration This group trains and leads the cranes from Wisconsin to Florida using ultralight aircraft

★ Journey North A website for teachers and children that follows the migrations of many species including the Whooping Crane

★ Environment Canada Western Migatory Population, Whooping Crane Information

★ Crane World The use of artificial vocal communication in training the Whoopers to follow the aircraft

★ The Nature Conservancy works to protect habitat for the Whooping Crane

★ World Wildlife Fund Works to protect the Whooping Crane and all endangered species.