53 The whoopers stitt dance 



trip in late August, determined to find a way of bringing the big 

 birds closer to us. For several weeks, in addition to resuming our 

 studies of the habitat, we constructed carefully concealed blinds 

 at a number of strategic locations. Then, when it was almost time 

 for the first whoopers to return in October, I started baiting the 

 vicinity of each blind with whole yellow corn. Although our birds 

 feed for the most part on animal life, they are not by any means 

 adverse to a certain amount of vegetable food, and we felt that 

 corn tnight turn the trick. One unforeseen difficulty was the ap- 

 petite for corn quickly developed by every raccoon, duck, and blue 

 crab in each of the baited areas! We let them finish what had al- 

 ready been put out and then waited impatiently for the first 

 whoopers to arrive. We would have to take a chance and hope to 

 be able to place the bait after our birds were settled in. 



There had been a hurricane off New Orleans on September 19, 

 but clear warm skies in our region, in spite of a puffy breeze from 

 the north. A few days later migrant hawks appeared sharp-shins, 

 kestrels, and marsh hawks (harriers). On September 24 a steady 

 diurnal wind set in from the east and continued without letup for 

 a period of two weeks, shifting toward the south on October 7. 

 Other migrants began to show up, a peregrine and numbers of as- 

 sorted shore birds on September 25 and a small flock of marbled 

 godwits, then dowitchers, yellowlegs, pintails, widgeon, and blue- 

 winged teal a few days later. Meanwhile, the prolonged east wind 

 had filled the entire pond system to overflowing. Blue crabs, the 

 most obvious crustaceans present, swarmed in every pond and pud- 

 dle. Apparently our original picture of the relation of the autumn 

 winds and high tides to the winter's food supply on the salt flats 

 had been close to the mark. 



Coot were observed on October 7, and green-winged teal two 

 days later. Pintails were by now present in large numbers, and 

 Jones Lake swarmed with them. On the eleventh we covered the 

 area as far as the Point Pasture looking for the first whooping 

 cranes. None had arrived. Next day the wind came around to the 

 northeast. Finally, on October 21 the first migrant whooper showed 

 up, a single bird that came to earth on the shore of Dunham Bay. 

 By this time a few lesser sandhill cranes had likewise arrived, as 



