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Tom Stehn Reports from Aransas: April 16, 2002
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Tom Stehn and Survey Plane |
My latest count of the whooping cranes (April 10th) found 118 of the 174 total in the population still here at Aransas. Thus, 56 have started the migration. Thirty-one departed between April 4 and April 10, with presumably most of them leaving on April 6. On that day, winds were very, very strong from the southeast and would have provided them quite a push.
I'm anticipating another 50+ whooping cranes to depart before you read this on April 16. Why do I think this? On my flight, I observed several small groups of cranes. It looked like the territories were breaking down and the cranes were more social, a sign of pre-migration behavior. Also, the majority of the cranes always leave the second week in April, so with 118 still here, a bunch more are going to leave shortly. The weather forecast through April 15 also looks favorable for migration. My third reason is that income taxes are due on April 15th, and the cranes will fly off to Canada rather than have to pay taxes (just kidding).
I noted one other thing on my flight that I've been worrying about. I've been keeping an eye on one crane that has had an injured left wing all winter. This crane had moved two miles from where I'd seen it the week before, so I'm hopeful that is a good sign that the bird can fly. Even if it can't fly well enough to migrate, it must be able to fly short distances to be able to avoid predators in order to survive. The bird's wing was still hanging down, so it is definitely still injured.
One other interesting thing happened on the flight. While taking off and flying across Aransas Bay, we noticed an oily sheen on the water and saw a place where the water was boiling up violently. A break in a natural gas pipeline had occurred and the gas was pouring out and causing pollution. We flew over the exact spot of the break and had the airplane's Geographical Information System (GIS) record the exact latitude and longitude of the break in the pipeline and then radioed in to the sheriff. He called the company that owned the pipeline that came from a gas well out in the bay, and they shut off the flow of gas through the line to stop any further pollution.
We always worry about oil and gas spills in the bays all around the whooping cranes. Also, tug boats pushing barges and other large boat travel along a dredged canal that runs all the way from Texas to Florida called the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. This canal goes right past the whooping cranes. If a barge ever spilled a load of chemicals, it could be very, very bad for the whooping cranes.
Tom Stehn
Whooping Crane Coordinator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
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