Animal Sciences Commons^™

How Many Cranes Make A Skyful?, Paul A. Johnsgard

Paul Johnsgard Collection

Every year thousands of lesser sandhills congregate along the Platte River in Nebraska on their spring migration northwards. Mainly because of local damage caused by the birds during their fall migration, they have been legally hunted since 1961. Can the population survive such persistent destruction?

One may ask the question “How many cranes are enough?” This is perhaps analogous to the rhetorical question as to how many redwood trees are needed to make a viable forest; for a remnant crane population is not only unimpressive but also seemingly does not survive or reproduce well, judging from population trends in the …