Update from the Whooping Cranes' Winter Headquarters Aransas National Wildlife Refuge Austwell, Texas May 2, 2001 Dear Journey North, The winter whooping crane season is over--ALMOST. I did a census flight on April 27 and found only ONE whooping crane left. All of the other 173 other whooping cranes have migrated, and some should be already sitting on nests in Canada. The one remaining bird is in the same location where a subadult whooping crane spent the summer in 2000. It is presumably the same bird. Will this bird decide to migrate? It may decide to since we've never before documented a whooping crane that failed to migrate two years in a row. However, it sure seems logical to me that it will stay since all the rest of the flock started north, and yet this one is still here. I'll give that PROCRASTINATOR (a new nickname the remaining crane has earned--don't you think?) a month, and then try to find it to see if it is still here. The final score sheet for the winter is: Current size of the Aransas / Wood Buffalo population is estimated at 174. Peak population during the 2000-2001 winter was 180. Six whooping cranes died at Aransas this winter. Have a great summer. Tom Stehn, Whooping Crane Coordinator U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Aransas NWR P.O. Box 100 Austwell, TX 77950 Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form