Cranes – North America

1000 BCE - present

"For the first time, a whooping crane — one of the most endangered species of crane in the world — hatched May 26 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia, and is thriving. SCBI’s bird team took the then-egg under their wing May 18, after the International Crane Foundation and Necedah National Wildlife Refuge staff in Wisconsin found the egg abandoned in a wild nest."

"Last winter, an estimated 543 whooping cranes arrived on their Texas wintering grounds after migrating 2,500 miles from their breeding grounds in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. Each fall the birds make their way back to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding habitats, where they spend the winter. Once they have arrived, wildlife biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) survey the birds by air and analyze population trends . . . Whooping cranes are one of the rarest birds in North America and are highly endangered. Cranes have been documented to live more than 30 years in the wild. Adults generally reach reproductive age at four or five years, and then lay two eggs, usually rearing only one chick. "

“The recreational killing of Sandhill Cranes in Michigan is an egregious proposition . . . These majestic birds are neither a traditional food source nor a real or unmitigated threat to ecosystems. Cranes are visual and auditory proof of a recovering biodiversity that assures our shared Michigan lands have a chance to remain and regain a healthy balance . . ."

"A resolution in the Michigan Senate encourages the state Natural Resources Commission to approve making sandhill cranes game to hunt . . . Eastern sandhill cranes were nearly wiped out 100 years ago. There are a lot more today, and farmers complain about the damage they do to their crops. In the spring, the migratory birds eat the planted seeds or young plants from corn and wheat fields . . . Advocates for the large birds say sandhill cranes really don’t do that much damage to crops compared to other animals. They also say we just don’t know enough about the birds and their reproduction to consider a hunting season."

"It wasn’t that long ago that the sight and sound of so many sandhill cranes would have been unthinkable. One of two species of crane that makes their home in North America — whooping cranes are the other — sandhill cranes have existed in their present form for more than 2.5 million years. But by the mid-1930s, the population of the Midwest subspecies of the bird had been reduced to just two dozen nesting pairs, due to loss of habitat and overhunting. In the case of the sandhill crane, the bird’s struggle for survival was indicative of a larger problem: the disappearance of wetlands . . . As the value of wetlands became better understood — both in terms of supporting wildlife and environmental benefits that include stormwater absorption — efforts were introduced to protect and restore this vital habitat. The sandhill crane population gradually rebounded, a success story that’s considered one of the conservation movement’s big wins . . . That victory is now jeopardy, threatened by the looming climate crisis. Some birds will respond by shifting their range to the north. The danger is that habitat is slower to evolve than climate . . . So if sandhill cranes, for example, push further north into Canada, instead of finding wetlands they’ll run into forests."

“The Whooping Crane, a symbol of national and international efforts to recover endangered species, has returned from the brink of extinction but remains at risk. . . . All whooping cranes alive today (437 in the wild + 162 in captivity = 599 as of August 2011 . . . are descendants of the small remnant flock in Texas in winter 1941-42. Although that population increased to 283 by winter 2011-12 . . . several factors, especially human development and long-term water issues on the wintering grounds, continue to place it in jeopardy. Despite intense management efforts, the whooping crane remains one of the rarest birds in North America. “

“The greater sandhill crane (Grus canadensis tabida) has been thriving in recent decades, as a result of generally low hunting rates and effective habitat management on the parts of federal, state, and local or private organizations . . . The greater sandhill crane’s eastern population...probably now approaches forty thousand birds . . . All told, the eastern population of greater sandhill cranes is doing extremely well, thanks in part to a universally high level of population protection. There is still an abundance of potential but unoccupied breeding habitats scattered across southern Canada and the northeastern United States, providing hopes for future population expansion. Wintering areas are still plentiful, and the eastern population birds are increasingly wintering along the Gulf Coast and South Atlantic states in addition to their historic Florida range.”

“Then, just before sunrise, the cranes rose majestically in flock after flock, along with even larger groups of Canada geese, and headed toward feeding grounds south of the river. To one who has never experienced such a scene, it is nearly impossible to convey, but standing beside railroad tracks as a speeding locomotive passes by may give some slight idea of the sound and implicit power expressed in the takeoff of ten thousand cranes.”

“Until 2008 this population had thus been increasing at a rate of about 4 percent per year. However, Hurricane Ike and a prolonged drought in Texas brought this hopeful situation to an end during the autumn and winter of 2008-9. The winter of 2008-9 proved disastrous for the Aransas whooping crane flock. During that season the flock lost 23 of its early-winter 270 birds, the worst year for crane mortality in twenty-six years . . . A combination of weather factors was responsible . . . making the total 2009-10 winter population about 266, the lowest in many years.”

Among the species that can be legally hunted are sandhill cranes in Canada, the United States, and Mexico... En-route to their wintering grounds in the souther United States and Mexico, three subspecies of migratory sandhill cranes, totally about 450,000 birds, grace the skies of central North America during autumn hunting season. Tens of thousands of cranes, many juveniles, never arrive. Although some bird wildlife managers believe that this is a sustainable kill, most of the dead birds are greater sandhill cranes, a subspecies compromising about 250,000 individuals.”

“Catastrophic spills of toxic substances are acute and unpredictable problems. Unfortunately, chemical processing and transportation facilities frequently occur along waterways adjacent to crane habitat. Of particular concern is the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Texas. Barges carrying highly toxic substances, such as benzene and zylene, pass daily along the waterway adjacent to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, the winter home of all wild whooping cranes. An accidental spill would be irreparable to this fragile species and its habitat.”

“Beginning in 2000, an intensive effort began to establish a migratory flock of whooping cranes in eastern North America. This ambitious, stranger than fiction adventure required the skills and resources of several private and governmental organizations that together formed the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership... Each year since, the partnership has successfully reared, trained, and flown a cohort of whooping cranes along a 1,220-mile route from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast of Florida, with Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge chosen as the initial terminus . . . This imaginative project depended on the skill of aviculturists in rearing cranes that would not imprint on their human caretakers, by using crane-like costumes while rearing the chicks to fledging... Success has relied strongly on the ability of highly skilled ultralight pilots training the newly fledged birds to follow the aircraft all the way to Florida wintering grounds...This program also is perhaps the most touching example of a persistent human efforts on the part of a small army of professionals and amateurs to try to save the magnificent whooping crane from extinction.”

Founded by ornithology students, Ron Sauey and George Archibald, the International Crane Foundation works worldwide to conserve cranes and the ecosystems, watersheds, and flyways on which they depend. “From our nearly 300-acre head- quarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA our reach extends across the globe. We maintain a regional base in China and share program offices with partner organizations in Cambodia, India, South Africa, Texas, Vietnam, and Zambia. Our approximately 55 staff work with a network of hundreds of specialists in over 50 countries on five continents . . . The International Crane Foundation is committed to a future where all 15 of the world’s crane species are secure.”