First Whooping Crane arrives in Texas (1 Viewer)

This news was posted on the Texbirds Listserv on 21st Oct, 08:

Greetings all!

The following report is forwarded with permission from Tom Stehn, USFWS
biologist and US Whooping Crane Coordinator.

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The first whooping crane arrival at Aransas was reported the afternoon of
October 20th. USFWS Pilot/Biologists Jim Bredy and Patrick Walther spotted
the single crane on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge while doing an
aerial waterfowl survey. The bird was in the east shore marshes about 1
mile west of Wynne's Cut. At present, we know of only the single
crane to be at Aransas, although only about 2/3's of the crane area was
covered during the aerial waterfowl census.

The October 20th sighting is just 4 days after the average first whooping
crane arrival date of October 16th. A cold front with north winds that
reached Aransas on October 17th presumably helped the crane complete the
2,400 mile migration. The next cold front is forecast to reach Aransas on
October 23 and should bring more whooping cranes.

Tom Stehn, Whooping Crane Coordinator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Aransas NWR
P.O. Box 100
Austwell, TX 77950
(361) 286-3559 Ext. 221
fax (361) 286-3722
E:mail: tom_stehn AT fws.gov

Hi Helen,

Thanks for the news, I follow the Whooping Cranes migrations every year and wonder how many of the "new class" will there be making the journey. I am glad there are so many people in the USA who follow them and even whole towns close down and make it a special day when they fly over.

Thanks to your post I can now put the site back up on my tool bar to check each day for the news.

Here is the site if anyone wants to follow the young Cranes and their guides

http://www.operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html

14 Young Cranes are making the journey this year and I pray the Cranes and their helpers all arrive in one piece this year, some have been a bit eventful to say the least.

Ann :t::flowers::flyaway:

Thanks for posting the website, Ann. The people who work with the captive raised Whooping Cranes, do a fantastic job in teaching them to migrate by following the ultralight planes to their wintering grounds in Florida. There's an Opus page on BirdForum for the Whooping Crane here.

The population which return to Aransas NWR every winter are the only wild Whooping Cranes left in the world and through conservation and protection, that flock reached a total number of 266 cranes last winter. It's hard to believe that there were only about 15 birds left in 1937, due to hunting and habitat destruction. There is a website for updates on the Aransas cranes here.