FEATURE

On a Wing and a Prayer
World’s Last Natural Wild Flock of Whooping Cranes Navigates a Precarious Course

By Elaine Robbins

When it comes to the precarious existence of Whooping Cranes —an endangered species that numbered just 15 in 1941—the birth of each chick is a cause for celebration. So it wasn’t surprising when Tom Stehn, Whooping Crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, greeted the news of the arrival of twins with the excitement of a new father. On a brisk November morning in 2008, the twins—two of a record 16 Whooping Cranes that descended on the grounds that morning—landed on private property on the Lamar Peninsula north of Rockport on the Texas Gulf Coast. For the chicks and their parents, it marked the end of a 2,500-mile journey from their summer home in Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park.

Stehn quickly identified the twins’ parents as “Al” and “Diane”—a pair named by wildlife biologists after Al and Diane Johnson, owners of Johnson Ranch, which features the Crane House bed-and-breakfast. Earlier this decade, the Johnsons sold 245 acres of ranch land to the Nature Conservancy, which then donated the land to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where the cranes winter. “This has been the most productive pair during the past dozen years,” Stehn said appreciatively. “They have brought a total of 12 chicks to Aransas in the last 12 years.”

Indeed, biologists prize fertility among the world’s last natural wild flock of Whooping Cranes. North America’s tallest flying birds—nearly 5 feet tall with a 7-foot wingspan—have made a slow climb back from the brink of extinction. Still numbering just 56 birds in 1970, the flock passed the 100-bird mark in 1986, the 200-bird mark in 2004 and now numbers 247. The total number of Whooping Cranes, including captive populations such as one housed at the San Antonio Zoo, stands at 537. Also included in that count are two flocks—one is nonmigratory, and the other migrates between Wisconsin and Florida—of captive birds released into the wild. Neither flock is self-sustaining.

The population rise comes courtesy of 70 years of conservation efforts in the United States and Canada. Habitat protection, wetland restoration and hunter education have all helped the species, once thought to number by the thousands in North America, recover. (Inexperienced hunters sometimes mistake Whooping Cranes—large white birds with distinctive black wingtips visible in flight—for Sandhill Cranes or Snow Geese, which are legal to hunt in most states.)

Although the trend has been generally positive, Stehn is not ready to pass out cigars and declare the cranes’ comeback a complete victory. During the winter of 2008-09, a severe drought in Texas caused the record deaths of seven adults and 16 chicks. With the lack of rainfall and increased water use inland, not enough fresh water flowed into the bays, creating a scarcity of blue crabs, the Whooping Crane’s dietary staple. The birds abandoned their usual salt-marsh habitat to seek fresh water inland and to find food in open bays and upland prairies. During one aerial survey, Stehn spotted a record 21 cranes at game feeders on the Lamar Peninsula. The cranes finally had a bit of luck at the end of March, when a harvest of fiddler crabs gave them a last-minute energy boost before their long journey north.

In coming years, Whooping Cranes will still face many threats. In the air, collisions with power lines, and efforts to avoid cell phone towers and wind turbines, make migration precarious. On the ground, the tar pits associated with vast oil-extraction operations in Alberta, Canada, pose a danger. And on the Texas coast, new housing developments in Seadrift, Holiday Beach, Lamar and Port O’Connor are gobbling up territory that whoopers have occupied in past seasons. Wildlife biologists fear that a single catastrophic event such as an oil spill on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway could wipe out the entire flock.

But the cranes carry on as they always have, oblivious to human help and hindrance. Come spring, they’ll return to Canada and perform one of nature’s most elaborate mating rituals in which they flap their huge wings and leap into the air. They bow Japanese-style and toss sticks and bits of grass. Then they begin “unison calling.” The female tosses her head back and emits two of the loud whoops for which the birds are named, and the male responds with a single, lower-pitched call. Four months after the chicks are born, they’ll be ready to make their first long-distance migration to Texas—taking off on a wing and a prayer.

SIDEBAR: FRIENDLY SKIES

Collisions with power lines are the top known cause of death for fledged Whooping Cranes, but some utilities are making the skies friendlier. Victoria Electric Cooperative has installed special insulated power lines across the Cliburn Ranch in Calhoun County to protect cranes that could fly into the lines. Lester Green, manager of operations at VEC, said special precautions were taken because the birds spend the winter on the ranch. The co-op has worked with the Avian Power Line Interaction Committee, which brings together utility companies and habitat managers to find cost-effective ways to make transmission lines and power poles less of a threat for migratory birds. Several Texas electric cooperatives are consulting with the committee and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about building new lines away from migratory routes. In addition, installation of a bird flight diverter, a thick coil of wire that makes lines more visible to birds, has proved largely effective, according to Tom Stehn, Whooping Crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. To learn more, go to www.aplic.org/resources.htm.

SIDEBAR: WHOOPER WATCHING

From late October through the end of March, the Whooping Cranes can be seen in their winter home on and around the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, about 70 miles north of Corpus Christi. The best way to see them is a boat tour on the Skimmer or the larger Wharf Cat that cruise into Aransas Bay to see the birds feeding in their coastal habitat. Bring binoculars and a windbreaker or rain jacket; conditions can be chilly. For more information and to make reservations, contact the Rockport-Fulton Area Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-826-6441 or go to www.rockport-fulton.organd click on birding.

At the Aransas refuge, you can view Whooping Cranes from the observation tower that overlooks Mustang Lake and the surrounding salt marsh. (The birds are territorial, claiming the same piece of land each year, so you’ll probably see only one pair.) The refuge offers two-hour guided van tours, which also provide an opportunity to see Whooping Cranes as well as resident white-tailed deer, alligators, Wild Turkeys and many other birds. Tours are offered January through April, on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; for reservations, call (361) 286-3559. The annual Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas is scheduled for February 25-28. For more information, call 1-800-452-6278 or go to www.portaransas.org.

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Elaine Robbins has a special interest in wildlife issues.