Friday, April 2, 2010

Whooping Cranes In Nebraska and Kansas


(photo taken in Texas)


From today's Lincoln Journal-Star
Nebraskans planning a weekend crane trip will have a good chance of glimpsing one of the rarest birds in North America.

As of Thursday, at least 11 whooping cranes had stopped in Nebraska during the spring migration, said Karine Gil, crane population ecologist with the Crane Trust near Alda. The birds belong to a flock of 247 wild whoopers that migrate from wintering grounds in Texas to breeding territory in northwestern Canada.

A check of the website of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in cental Kansas shows that as of yesterday, there were 76 whooping cranes on the refuge.

In my meandering around the internet I found another interesting article in the Washington Post.
This year for the first time, the movements of a few birds are being monitored in real time through miniaturized leg-band Global Positioning System devices.

This research project took six years of meeting, discussing and permit-getting in two countries. It is finally underway, at a propitious time.

Lots of information in that article, it's well worth a read.

I tried to find out more about the monitoring, and have been unable to find anything. When I find it, I'll post it...

2 comments:

Jill said...

The Platte River Whooping Crane Trust, i.e. Felipe Chavez-Ramirez, is heading up the Whooping Crane radio telemetry study.

kayleen said...

Hi Jill
Thanks for stopping by. I checked their website, but didn't find anything there, or if it's there, it's really well hidden. The site doesn't appear to have been updated in some time.