WHOOPING CRANE Grus americana (Linnaeus) 



Order: GRUIFORMES Family: GRUIDAE 



Distinguishing characteristics : Very large, long-legged, long-necked bird, all white 

 except black wing tips, back of head, and moustache markings with red skin on top of 

 the head sparsely covered with black hairs , and pale yellow eye in adults . First-year 

 birds have rusty brown plumage mottled with white . 



Present distribution: Breeds in Wood Buffalo National Park, central southern Mackenzie, 

 Canada. Winters on Gulf Coast of Texas, occasionally into Mexico. 



Former distribution : Bred from present range south through Prairie Provinces and the 

 northern prairie States to Iowa . Also on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana . Wintered on the 

 Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico . 



Status : Very small numbers slowly increasing over past few decades . 



Estimated numbers : 80 including 59 wild birds on Gulf Coast and 21 (17 at Patuxent 

 Wildlife Research Center) in captivity in winter of 1971-72. Sixteen nests, largest number 

 found occupied in one year, found in 1972 in two areas in Wood Buffalo National Park. 



Breeding rate in the wild : Maximum of two young per pair per year; usually one. Total 

 reproduction quite variable from to 10 young each year. 



Reasons for decline : Relegation to marginal northern portions of its breeding range by 

 interference from man; also probably illegal shooting of nonbreeding birds in summer and 

 migrating individuals in fall in the northern grain-producing farmlands. Occasional 

 shooting on wintering area . 



Protective measures already taken : Enforcement of the laws protecting these birds at 

 all times by the agents of the Canadian and United States Federal wildlife agencies and 

 Provincial and State conservation departments. Vigorous campaign of publicity by the 

 National Audubon Society, other conservation organizations, and the press. Strict 

 protection of the cranes on their breeding grounds by Canada and on their wintering 

 grounds by the United States, including establishment of the 47,200-acre Aransas National 

 Wildlife Refuge in 1937. Fenced areas planted to grain helped keep whooping cranes from 

 wandering far from Al-ansas Refuge each winter since 1964. Also at Aransas a salt water 

 impoundment stocked with marine organisms has been utilized by the cranes for feeding. 

 Other Federal and State refuges on the migration route are utilized for resting and feeding 

 while in transit. Research on methods of rearing this and other species of cranes in 

 captivity and of determining their sex by external examination has been conducted by 

 the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife looking toward developing captive breeding 

 stock of whooping cranes . Efforts have been made by this Bureau to obtain better utilization 

 for reproduction purposes of whooping cranes in zoos. One of the tv>'0 eggs per nest have 

 been taken from wild nests in Canada for propagation at Patuxent without reducing the 

 production of wild birds . 



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