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Sandhill Crane Roost Selection, Human Disturbance, And Forage Resources, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt
Sandhill Crane Roost Selection, Human Disturbance, And Forage Resources, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Sites used for roosting represent a key habitat requirement for many species of birds because availability and quality of roost sites can influence individual fitness. Birds select roost sites based on numerous factors, requirements, and motivations, and selection of roosts can be dynamic in time and space because of various ecological and environmental influences. For sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) at their main spring staging area along the Platte River in south-central Nebraska, USA, past investigations of roosting cranes focuse donphysical channel characteristics related to perceived security as motivating roost distribution.We used 6,310 roost sites selected by 313 sandhill cranes over …
Timing Of Spring Surveys For Midcontinent Sandhill Cranes, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt, Glen A. Sargeant
Timing Of Spring Surveys For Midcontinent Sandhill Cranes, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt, Glen A. Sargeant
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has used spring aerial surveys to estimate numbers of migrating sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) staging in the Platte River Valley of Nebraska, USA. Resulting estimates index the abundance of the midcontinent sandhill crane population and inform harvest management decisions. However, annual changes in the index have exceeded biologically plausible changes in population size (>50% of surveys between 1982 and 2013 indicate >20% change), raising questions about nuisance variation due to factors such as migration chronology. We used locations of cranes marked with very-highfrequency transmitters to estimate migration chronology (i.e., proportions of …
Spring-Migration Ecology Of Northern Pintails In South-Central Nebraska, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, Robert R. Cox Jr., Bruce E. Davis
Spring-Migration Ecology Of Northern Pintails In South-Central Nebraska, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, Robert R. Cox Jr., Bruce E. Davis
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Spring-migration ecology of staging Northern Pintails, Anas acuta, was investigated in south-central Nebraska, USA. Habitat associations, local movements, settling patterns, arrival dates, residency times and survival were estimated from 71 radiomarked pintails during spring 2001, 2003 and 2004, and diet determined from 130 females collected during spring 1998 and 1999. Seventy-two percent of pintail diurnal locations were in palustrine wetlands, 7% in riverine wetlands, 3% in lacustrine wetlands, 6% in municipal sewage lagoons and irrigation reuse pits and 10.5% in croplands. Emergent wetlands with hemi-marsh conditions were used diurnally more often than wetlands with either open or closed vegetation …