States: Endangered: Mississippi (protected 

 under the Nongame and Endangered 

 Species Act of 1974; 

 Listed: Alabama. 



REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS: 



The Mississippi Sandhill Crane is nearing ex- 

 tinction because of its very small and restricted 

 population and the deterioration of its habitat, 

 semiopcn wet pine savanna, because of drainage, 

 planting of trees for timber, urban and suburban 

 development, and highway construction (U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service 1973; Morine 1975; 

 Recovery Team for the Mississippi Sandhill Crane 

 1976). 



Since the mid-1950's, timber companies have 

 acquired or leased thousands of hectares, which 

 have been planted to slash pine (Pinus elliottii). 

 Drainage ditches dug through savannas and water- 

 courses speed run-off. Fire, the natural agent in 

 maintaining even wet prairies, has been controlled 

 or eliminated, encouraging pine plantation sur- 

 vival and also permitting natural reproduction of 

 pine and brush in unplanted savannas. Many ac- 

 cess roads, trails, and fire lanes have been built, 

 giving people easier access to crane habitat. Tim- 

 ber management has made thousands of hectares 

 of former crane habitat unsuitable for these birds 

 (Valentine and Noble 1970; Morine 1975; Re- 

 covery Team for the Mississippi Sandhill Crane 

 1976). 



Housing developments and small farms are ex- 

 panding into crane habitat from Ocean Springs, 

 Fontainebleau, and Gautier communities. Recent 

 release of St. Regis timber land holdings allowed 

 the sale of about 2,000 hectares of crane environ- 

 ment for development. 



U.S. Highway 90, a four-lane east-west avenue 

 through crane range, now a "strip city" extends 

 the entire distance between Ocean Springs and 

 Pascagoula. Other highways through crane habitat 

 are being built or improved. The adverse effects 

 of highways on cranes are: (1) direct loss of land 

 to right-of-way and borrow areas; (2) disturbance 

 by noise, vibration, and visual factors; (3) pollu- 

 tion of surrounding air and soil; (4) facilitation of 

 public access to crane environment; and (5) stim- 

 ulation of residential and commercial develop- 

 ments along highway route (Recovery- Team for 

 the Mississippi Sandhill Crane 1976). 



PRIORITY INDEX 



50 



DESCRIPTION 



This species is similar in size to the Florida 

 sandhill crane, Grus canadensis pratensis, but 

 colored portions of plumage are much darker 

 throughout. It differs from the greater sandhill 

 crane, Grus canadensis tabida, in smaller size 

 (except tarsus) and darker color; and from the 

 lesser sandhill crane, Grus canadetuis canadensis, 

 in larger size in all dimensions and darker color. 

 It can be distinguished from the Canadian sandhill 

 crane, Grus canadensis rowani, by longer tarsi and 

 darker color (Aldrich 1972). 



Measurements. (8 live adult birds hatched 

 from Mississippi-taken eggs, sex undertermined): 

 wind (chord), 470-493 mm; bill (from posterior 

 end of nostrO), 82-91; tarsus, 216-258 (Aldrich 

 1972). 



Eggs. Light buffy background with splotches 

 of reddish brown and lavender, particularly around 

 the large end (Mcllhenny 1938;Walkinshaw 1960). 

 Average measurements of 16 eggs was 95.9 (89- 

 104) x 58.55 (56.2-59.0) (Walkinshaw 1973). 



RANGE 



Sandhill cranes are permanent residents in 

 Jackson County Mississippi near Ocean Springs and 

 at Fontainebleau, between the Pascagoula River 

 on the east and Jackson-Harrison county line on 

 the west, Graveline Bayou on the south and on 

 the north the 30°37' latitude line (Valentine 1978, 

 pers. comm.). 



Their former distribution is poorly known, 

 but presumed to have been more extensive than 

 at present with populations in widely separated 

 areas of suitable habitat in southern Louisiana 

 (Cook 1914; Figgins 1923; Mcllhenny 1943; 

 Lower>' 1960), southern Mississippi (Mcllhenny 

 1 93 8 ; Turcotte 1 94 7 ; Walkinshaw 1949; Valentine 

 1963; Valentine and Noble 1970), and southern 

 Alabama (Howell 1928; Imhof 1962). No speci- 

 mens of the populations outside southern Missis- 

 sippi are extant, so their identification as pulla 

 must be assumed. In a more detailed statement by 

 the Recovery Team of the Mississippi Sandhill 

 Crane (1976), the range is said to be confined to 

 southern Jackson County, Mississippi, from the 

 Pascagoula River to about the Harrison County 



