Whooping Crane Migration Update: February 25, 2011 | ||||||||||
Happy news comes from the wintering grounds of both migratory flocks: A record high number of cranes at Aransas NWR, and chicks maturing at the two Florida release pens. Why are blue crabs so important to cranes, and how do they eat those clawed crustaceans? Video clip, too! Today's Report Includes:
|
Image of the Week
|
|||||||||
Learning
how to eat blue crabs is important for juvenile cranes during their first
winter in Texas or Florida. Click on the photo and wonder: What
will happen next? |
||||||||||
News: Field Reports from Texas and Florida | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Winter Diet: Blue and Crabby! | Lesson | |||||||||
How would you like to eat the same thing every day for 5 or 6 months every year of your life? That's what Whooping cranes do on their wintering grounds. Cranes can eat crabs, clams, eels, shrimp, crayfish, acorns, snails, mice, voles, grasshoppers, minnows, dead fish, marsh onions, wolfberries and snakes. But their top favorite is blue crabs. An adult crane can eat up to 80 blue crabs in a day! How do they get to the meat? How do they teach their young to catch and eat these tasty, tricky morsels? What makes these clawed crustaceans so essential to Whooping cranes now—and forever? Find answers here: |
|
|||||||||
Coming Soon: Track the Migration | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Video Clip: Foraging After Sunset at Aransas NWR | ||||||||||
Research Question and Links: Helpful Resources to Explore | ||||||||||
Research question: What's a real problem for blue crabs—and also the number one threat to Whooping crane survival? Write your ideas in your Journey North Whooping Crane Journal.
|
||||||||||
More
Whooping Crane Lessons
and Teaching Ideas! |
||||||||||
The Next Whooping Crane Migration Update Will Be Posted on March 11, 2011.
|