| Many Times a Father
The
Lobstick male first nested in 1982 when he was 4 years old and
nested
every
year
at least through 2009. I started studying Whooping
cranes in 1982 and I’ve been doing it ever since. In
two years, 2001 and 2007, the Lobsticks brought two chicks to Aransas.
(Whooping cranes almost always lay two eggs, but usually only one
of the two chicks survives.) They brought a chick to
Aransas in 2008 but did not bring a chick to Aransas in fall,
2009, even though we
saw them with two small chicks on the Canadian nesting grounds
in June 2009, soon after the chicks had hatched. Those two chicks
did not
survive the summer.
|
What
reasons might explain why usually only one chick survives? |
|
Photo:Diane
Loyd
|
