Whooping Crane: Population 583

Endangered: Whooping Crane
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Gruidae
Species: G. americana
Life Span: 24 years in the wild.

Threats:
• Habitat loss and degradation on the wintering grounds and along the migration route
• Small population size due to the loss of genetic diversity
• Interruption on the wintering grounds during migration
• Power lines and fences killing cranes
• Chemical spills along their habitat in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
• New diseases ex. West Nile Virus
• Illegal hunting
• Climate change resulting in drought on breeding or wintering grounds

Habitat: Their breeding habitat is the muskeg of the taiga; the only known remaining nesting location is Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta and the Northwest Territories of Canada. The nesting point area consists of six small areas of about 400 square kilometers. Their breeding originates in the large marshes in the northeastern portion of Wood Buffalo National Park.

Range: The Whooping Crane nest and rear their young in the summers at the Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada. During the fall season, they migrate 2,500 miles south to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas where they spend the winter and early spring. The cranes key rest spot is the Central Platte River area in Nebraska and the migratory whooping cranes depend on rest points along their incredible migration.

Food: Whooping cranes eat snails, larval insects, leeches, minnows, small rodents, and berries. They are also known to scavenge dead ducks, marsh birds or muskrats, frogs smaller birds, fish, reptiles, dragonflies, damselflies, other aquatic, crayfish, clams, snails, aquatic tubers, berries, grasshoppers, and crickets.

During migration, they stop to eat aquatic animals, plant roots and waste grain in stubble fields. In Texas, they eat shellfish, snakes, acorns, small fish and wild fruit.

Population: Total world population is 583. In the wild there are 237 Wood cranes in the Buffalo/Aransas Flock, 53 cranes in the Florida non-migratory flock and 83 Eastern Migratory flock. In captivity there are 145 in the zoos across the world.

The Whooping Crane is one of the most regal and a majestic bird in North America but due to habitat loss, pollution and diseases the Whooping Crane is on the brink of extinction. Despite a very aggressive conservation program we are still trying to right the wrongs of our past by hunting and shrinking their habitat. The Whooping Crane is still one of the rarest birds in North America. They are endangered mainly as a result of habitat loss.

The Whooping Crane suffered in the late 1800s from shooting, habitat disturbance, and the draining of the large, isolated marshes that it frequented. At one time, the range for these birds extended throughout Midwestern North America. In the early part of the 1900’s the Whooping Crane were hunted openly up to 1941. In 1941 there were only 21 wild birds and two captives. Today there are 300 whooping cranes in the world. The species is still on the endangered list and is carefully monitored. As of April 2007 there were about 340 Whooping Cranes living in the wild, and another 145 living in captivity.

Despite conservation efforts and preservation to their breeding grounds the Whooping Cranes also face man made obstacles which have killed large portions of their flock like power lines, microwave towers, and other structures common in southern North America.

The concentration of the Whooping Crane in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, makes them susceptible to catastrophic events (e.g. hurricanes, chemical spills). If there is a disease outbreak the cranes could be whipped out due to a large concentration within a small region and due to loss of genetic diversity a major disease could kill an entire population. Currently, the cranes are susceptible to the West Nile disease. In addition, the cranes are constantly monitored for Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and Infectious Bursal Disease Virus.

This critical wintering habitat is particularly at risk because it is subject to heavy boat traffic involved in the transport of petrochemicals, resulting in habitat degradation, contamination and increased possibility of accidental spills. On the Eastern seaboard any environmental disaster can wipe out almost 70 years of conservation.

The problem with reintroducing the Whooping Crane into the wild is that if there are natural disasters, pollution, manmade obstacles or disease then reintroduction of the Whooping Crane can wipe out the entire efforts conservationists.

Until humans learn how to utilize their surroundings and fully optimize how to maximize their environment and not encroach on the habitat of the Whooping Crane then these wonderful species will always be on the brink go extinction.

For information on how to help the Whooping Crane, visit these websites:

http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/

Currrent news on Whooping Cranes: http://whoopers.usgs.gov/

http://www.savingcranes.org/getinvolved/default.asp