I haven't made it over to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge yet but hopefully I will soon because these are really amazing beauties to watch...

Reported by Tom Stehn
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

The second aerial census of the 2008-09 crane season was conducted November25, 2008 in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, Texas with USFWS observers Tom Stehn and Darrin Welchert.Weather conditions were ideal during the 5.4-hour flight with sunshine andlight winds.  Located were 228 adults + 38 juveniles = 266 total.

This 266 total matches the peak population in the 2007-08 winter. The conditions at Aransas this winter do not look very good.  The wolfberrycrop seems notably lower, perhaps a result of the summer drought.  Although some blue crabs were found on a count conducted November 10th, the cranes initially seemed to be foraging more on fiddler crabs.  This suspectedminimal amount of food resources was indicated by the 41 whooping cranes seen on uplands during today’s census flight. 

 A prescribed burn of around 2,500 acres conducted on Matagorda Island on November 15th held 24 whooping cranes, with 17 on unburned uplands.  The use of unburned uplands this time of year is indicative of less than ideal food resources in the marsh.  Bay and marsh salinities are around 30 parts per thousand, forcing the cranes to make daily flights to freshwater to drink.  Forty-five cranes were found at fresh water sources during the census flight.

Here's the full report  and a detailed  explanation of numbers located and additional cranes in the flocks that I found to be very interesting ...   birdRockport.com

And I recieved this post from my friend, Mom = *Family First* , thanks for sharing this news on this flock of Whooping cranes as well. I'm hoping that the weather stays good and they continue they have a safe journey this year .

 Fourteen whooping crane chicks reached Kentucky on their ultralight-guided migration from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin to Chassahowitzka and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuges along Florida's Gulf Coast. These majestic birds, the tallest in North America, left Necedah refuge on Oct. 17 following four ultralight aircraft. Kentucky is one of the seven states the ultralight-guided migration will fly over before reaching Florida.

The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, an international coalition of public and private groups, is conducting this project, now in its eighth year, in an effort to reintroduce this endangered species in eastern North America. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, on Nov. 29, on migration day 44, favourable weather allowed them to continue their southward journey to Marshall County, Kentucky, with a 63-mile, two-hour flight.

 "This is an exciting year for the reintroduction project with the addition of St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in the Florida panhandle," said Sam D. Hamilton, Southeast Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We wish the intrepid pilots of Operation Migration all the best with the new route as they enter the Southeast, and hope for a safe and speedy arrival at St. Marks and Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge.

There are now 68 migratory whooping cranes in the wild in eastern North America - including the first whooping crane chick to hatch in the wild in Wisconsin in more than a century. Each fall, pilots from Operation Migration lead a new generation of whooping cranes behind their ultralight aircraft to wintering grounds in Florida. The cranes will make the return flight on their own to the Upper Midwest in the spring.

 The ultralight-led flock from Necedah NWR passed through Wisconsin and Illinois. It will fly through Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia to reach the wintering locations in Florida. The duration of the migration is completely dependant on weather. It is unknown how long it will take the team to reach their final destination.

Last year's journey lasted 97 days. To help speed the migration and improve safety for the birds and the pilots, a new route was developed this year that takes the team around the Appalachian Mountains rather than over them. For the first time, they will pass through the state of Alabama.

In addition to the 14 ultralight-led birds, biologists from the International Crane Foundation (ICF) and the Service reared six whooping cranes at Necedah NWR. The birds were released in the company of older cranes from whom the young birds will learn the migration route. This is the fourth year WCEP has used this Direct Autumn Release method, which supplements the ultralight migrations.

Hand reared Whooping cranes that take part in the ultralight and Direct Autumn Release 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.

Most of the reintroduced whooping cranes spend the summer in central Wisconsin, where they use areas on the Necedah NWR, as well as various state and private lands. Reintroduced whooping cranes have also spent time in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and other upper Midwest states.
Target of 125 cranes The Whooping Crane Recovery Team has established a target number for this reintroduction. Once there are at least 125 individuals, including 25 breeding pairs, migrating in this eastern corridor the population could be considered self sustaining. With 68 birds now in the wild and another 20 soon to be released this project is well past the half way mark.

In the 1940s Whooping cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there are only about 500 birds in existence, 350 of them in the wild. Aside from the 68 Wisconsin-Florida birds, 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 National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Coast.

 A non-migrating flock of about 30 whooping cranes lives year-round in central Florida. The remaining 150 whooping cranes are in captivity in zoos and breeding facilities around North America. Whooping cranes, named for their loud and penetrating unison calls, live and breed in wetland  areas, where they feed on crabs, clams, frogs and seeds. 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 600 feet; try to remain in your vehicle; do not approach in a vehicle within 600 feet or, if on a public road, within 300 feet. 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.

Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership founding members are the International Crane Foundation, Operation Migration Inc., Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and National Wildlife Health Center, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, and the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team.

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 estimated $1.6 million annual budget comes from private sources in the form of grants, public donations and corporate sponsorship.

My past blogs related to The Whooping Cranes...

Geese,Cranes,Egrets,Starlings,Goldfinches and Warblers 12-06

Sad news for Whooping Cranes in Florida 2-07

Happy wing flaps to you all !

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