To: Journey North
From: Tom Stehn, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Austwell, Texas
Dear Students,
The whooping cranes have just about all left for Canada. I did an aerial count on April 25th and found only 8 birds remaining. A whooping crane boat tour on April 28 found only 1 crane left on the refuge, so by the time you read this, there is a good chance that all the birds will have gone.
It always amazes me how variable the migration is. Some cranes depart in early March and others sometimes leave as late as the first week in May. A few subadults have been known to start their migration the first two weeks in May.
At the time of writing, still present were 4 unbanded subadults (non-breeders) and 2 potential nesting pairs. Of the two pairs, one included an 8-year-old male with an unbanded mate who has never been documented nesting in Wood Buffalo National Park. The other pair included a divorced male and an unbanded mate. (The birds have special color-coded bands on their legs so they can be identified.) It is believed that in the past, all adult pairs have always departed Aransas by April 20, so the late departure of the two potential nesting pairs is notable. I wonder if they will nest this year?
The Canadian whooping crane biologist will soon be driving up to Wood Buffalo National Park and will start doing aerial surveys the first few days of May, looking for nests. He may have to wait a little for the snow to melt, because finding white birds is very difficult when much of the landscape is white with remaining snow. If the marshes are still frozen, the first whooping cranes to arrive in the park probably have a hard time finding food.
I will do one more census to make sure all the cranes have left the refuge. Then I will keep my fingers crossed, in hopes that many young whoopers will hatch in May. In mid-June, I'll be helping the Canadian biologist try to count how many chicks have hatched. Then the summer will rush by--and I'll be looking for the cranes to arrive back at Aransas starting in October.
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