At the Cleaver's house?
Posted on 12/20/2003 7:36:41 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
AUSTWELL - Five additional endangered whooping cranes have joined the flock that winters here, breaking the new record of 189 set last week at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and the Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge.
In his Dec. 17 fly-over, Tom Stehn, whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, spotted 194 cranes, which is believed to be the highest number of whooping cranes at the Aransas refuge in 100 years.
The record before this season was set in the fall of 1999 when 188 birds wintered there.
"The new arrivals included one additional family group, bringing the total number of chicks to 25," he said. "This excellent production, combined with average mortality between spring and fall, accounts for the increase of nine birds over last winter's total of 185."
The new arrivals include a family group that is not banded and not identified as part of the flock that makes the 2,400-mile migration from nesting grounds in Canada each fall.
Of the total, 60 adults and six chicks were observed on Matagorda Island, setting a record for the island. Another 49 adults and nine chicks were counted on the refuge, 39 adults and seven chicks on San Jose Island, 16 and two at Welder Flats, and five and one at Lamar.
Whether more birds will arrive is unknown. Stehn said, "There have been no confirmed reports of cranes in migration in the past two weeks, though one unconfirmed report was received of three whooping cranes flying over Austin on Dec. 15."
A Dallas man appeared before Judge Paul Stickney in Dallas on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to a charge of illegally transporting and possessing a whooping crane and other waterfowl in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The crane found in his possession was apparently shot Nov. 14 in Ellis County, south of Dallas.
The judge set an early February trial date for Donald W. Jones, who is charged in connection with the crane's death.
At the Cleaver's house?
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.
A whooping crane coordinator would be "she" in the State of Bubbasaw
Whoopers bring birders, bucks to Rockport areaBy Matthew Sturdevant Caller-Times Contact Matthew Sturdevant at _886-3778 or sturdevantm@caller.com
December 18, 2003ROCKPORT - Capt. Tommy Moore looked past the deck and the flurry of white pelicans to a beige marsh in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
"There's a whooping crane at 11 o'clock, about a mile off," Moore said over the speaker system on his boat, the Skimmer.
Suddenly, telescopes lined the port side like pirate cannon, and tripod legs resembled a gaggle of herons on the upper deck.
Nearly 20 birdwatchers from as far away as Denmark boarded Moore's double-decker boat last week in Rockport for a four-hour tour.
"At least half of my customers are from around the world," Moore said before pointing to a cluster of Forster's terns.
The main attraction this time of year is the endangered whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America and a popular tourist attraction for the Coastal Bend.
Tina Klein-Lebbink and Liz Copeland, who live in the Seattle area, both spent about a week in the Coastal Bend, checking out the long list of birds that can be found in South Texas.
"I've been learning about the birds in this part of the country since I was in high school," Klein said.
Mike Graybill of Coos Bay, Ore., squinted into his binoculars as Moore's boat putted through a channel about 100 yards from a group of four whooping cranes.
Graybill made his first trip to Texas last week along with Jan Hodder of Coos Bay, Ore., for one reason - the birds. Specifically, the whoopers, as they're affectionately known among birders.
"It's my first time in Texas, and it wouldn't have been Texas without the wildlife refuges and the wildlife," said Graybill, who manages a coastal estuary in Oregon. "This area has some of the richest abundance of birds in North America. And having us come here, there's a car rental involved there, there's a plane ticket involved there, we're staying a number of nights and eating here."
As Graybill spoke, Hodder kept peeking into a Swarovski high-definition telescope. In the sights of the scope was an adult whooper - a lanky, 5-foot-tall, white wading bird with a red face and what looks like a Victorian bustle on its backside.
"It seems pretty spectacular to see something when there's only about 180 of them," Hodder said.
The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is the winter home for most of the whooping cranes that live in the wild, which total about 300. The rest live in Florida, with only about a fifth of them migrating north to Wisconsin during the breeding season, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Whooping cranes are slow to reproduce - a pair only lays two eggs each year, according to Fish and Wildlife.
"If they have a chick every other year or every third year, it's a success," said Tom Stehn, the whooping crane coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service. "One out of four chicks survive to grow up."
A record-sized flock
Whooping cranes started dying off in the 1800s because of man-made changes to their habitat, because of hunting, and because collectors sought their eggs and feathers. By the 1940s, fewer than 20 birds were alive in one remaining flock.
Now the flock has grown to a new record. Stehn said 189 whooping cranes have arrived so far this year from their summer home in Canada's Northwest Territories. That breaks the previous record of 188 set in 1999. The current population includes 165 adults and 24 young.
"We were hoping for 200 whooping cranes in 2000, but the population went into a decline for a couple of years before rebounding back to 185 cranes last winter," Stehn said.
This year is unique because a set of twins has migrated about 2,500 miles from their summer home in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada, Stehn said. The young birds aren't genetically identical, but came from two eggs in the same clutch, which is rare. Usually the bird that hatches first, or the more dominant bird, kills its sibling so it won't have to compete as much for food, Stehn said.
"Eight percent of the chicks are twins; 92 percent of the time it doesn't happen," Stehn said.
What's amazing is that the twins were able to migrate successfully, Stehn said. Whooping cranes often get killed by flying into power lines or guide wires on telecommunications towers, he said.
Other factors have threatened the future of whooping cranes, which eat mostly blue crabs, clams, frogs, minnows, rodents, small birds and berries.
Stehn said he's worried about political wrangling over water rights to the tributaries that feed into the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. If the amount of freshwater decreases, it may increase the salinity in the marshes where the whoopers feed. That means their prey may not be as abundant, Stehn said.
Another threat was re-emphasized this year. A Dallas-area man was charged with possessing a dead whooping crane, which was apparently shot on Nov. 14 at a lake near Dallas. Donald Jones, 48, was arraigned Friday on charges he violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. If convicted, Jones could face up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
Up to $6 million for area
The birds have a huge economic impact in Rockport and Fulton.
The Rockport-Fulton area gets about 5,000 to 8,000 birdwatchers seeking whooping cranes each year, and has had as many as 15,000 in a year, Rockport-Fulton Area Chamber of Commerce president Diane Probst said. If each person spends $30 for a tour, buys lunch, gasoline and spends a total of $100, the economic impact could be $500,000 to $1.5 million each year, she said.
Stehn said he has learned that the economic impact for the Rockport-Fulton area is as much as $6 million each year.
The Rockport-Fulton area has 11 charter boat services in the Coastal Bend listed with the chamber of commerce. The prices range from $20 for a 12 year-old to go on a cruise for a few hours to as much as $1,400 for a three-day stay on a 46-foot sailboat that sleeps six.
A highlight of the trip
Andy and Mariana Pesthy, who live in the Philadelphia area, said they came to the Coastal Bend specifically to see whooping cranes.
"I must say the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce did an excellent job of promoting the birding in this area," Mariana Pesthy said.
The Pesthys were aboard the Skimmer early last week, and said they had added 30 birds to their life list, a record of the different birds they've seen in their lives. Their cruise on Moore's boat was the first time they had seen a whooper, and there were nearly a dozen seen during the four-hour tour.
"This is definitely one of the highlights of our trip," Mariana
Apologies to those in the Lone Star State.
Whadya think ... time to thin'em out? Another 20 years and there will be flocks of them crapping all over my favorite golf course.
I think the cranes are banded in the summertime up in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada where they nest. There may be a few that nested away from the rest and produced offspring that thus never got banded.
I had the opportunity to watch the Whoopers at Aransas about 20 years ago when their numbers were way down. They were quite a sight and a friend and I had a great time birding all over South Texas from the Rio Grande up to Aransas.
My grandfather used to talk about seeing the Whoopers migrating through his farm in Kansas, but of course in those days they weren't the celebrities that they are now. They're really awkward looking creatures. One can readily understand the many reports of them flying into power lines.
What'cha say we thin out some usless positions in the bureaucracy instead......??
Tom Stehn, whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...
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