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Behavior and Ethology Commons

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1992

Whooping crane

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology

Capturing Whooping Cranes And Sandhill Cranes By Night-Lighting, Roderick C. Drewien, Kent R. Clegg Jan 1992

Capturing Whooping Cranes And Sandhill Cranes By Night-Lighting, Roderick C. Drewien, Kent R. Clegg

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

We caught 19 adult (> 1.5 years old) whooping craoes (Grus americana) in 84 capture attempts (23 % success) by nightlighting during 1981-91 in Idaho, Wyoming, and New Mexico, including 17 for experimental purposes and 2 that were debilitated (aviao cholera aod lead poisoning). We also captured 250 greater saodhill craoes (G. canadensis tabida), including 157 adults aod 93 juveniles, on summer areas at Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho, to color-mark them for behavioral and movement studies. Night-lighting equipment included an 8.5-kg portable generator mounted on an aluminum back-pack frame and a 12- or 28-V …


Population Recovery Of The Whooping Crane With Emphasis On Reintroduction Efforts: Past And Future, David H. Ellis, James C. Lewis, George F. Gee, Dwight G. Smith Jan 1992

Population Recovery Of The Whooping Crane With Emphasis On Reintroduction Efforts: Past And Future, David H. Ellis, James C. Lewis, George F. Gee, Dwight G. Smith

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began building a captive whooping crane (Grus americana) colony at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (patuxent), Maryland, in 1966. From 1976 to 1984, 73 eggs from this colony and 216 eggs from Wood Buffalo National Park (Wood Buffalo), Canada, nests were placed in sandhill crane (G. canadensis) nests at Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge (Grays Lake), Idaho, the site of the first whooping crane reintroduction attempt. Although 84 chicks fledged from the 289 eggs, the egg transfer program has been discontinued because of inordinately high mortality (only ca. 13 birds remain …


Characteristics Of Whooping Crane Roost Sites In The Platte River, Craig A. Faanes, Douglas H. Johnson, Gary R. Lingle Jan 1992

Characteristics Of Whooping Crane Roost Sites In The Platte River, Craig A. Faanes, Douglas H. Johnson, Gary R. Lingle

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The Big Bend of the Platte River in centraJ Nebraska provides important migration habitat for whooping cranes (Grus americana). River profiles were obtained at 23 confumed nocturnal roost sites occupied by whooping cranes during 1983 -90. Whooping cranes selected roost sites that had shallower water depths than at unused sites. All but 4 roosts were located in channels wider than 150 m; roost sites were an average of 27.8 % of the channel width from the nearer shore. Nearly 90% of the roost sites had a trench of deeper water on both sides. Proper management of the Platte …


Whooping Cranes In Southwest Louisiana: History And Human Attitudes, Gay M. Gomez Jan 1992

Whooping Cranes In Southwest Louisiana: History And Human Attitudes, Gay M. Gomez

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

When whooping cranes (Grus americana) inhabited southwest Louisiana's coastal marshes, residents viewed them as a food source and a crop pest, and shooting was commonplace. Local attitudes have changed as a result of education, stricter law enforcement, and decreased dependence on wildlife for subsistence, but hunting remains widespread. A 1977 proposal to reintroduce whooping cranes to southwest Louisiana generated strong opposition from the Louisiana Wild Life and Fisheries Commission (now Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries), based on concerns about critical habitat and its likely impact on waterfowl hunting and other traditional marsh uses. These concerns remain, though …


Whooping Crane Response To Disturbances At The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Thomas E. Lewis, R. Douglas Slack Jan 1992

Whooping Crane Response To Disturbances At The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Thomas E. Lewis, R. Douglas Slack

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Many forms of disturbance on and near the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge cause disruptions to wintering whooping cranes (Grus americana). Known forms of disturbance include various boating, aircraft, and automobile traffic. Natural disturbance from other wildlife also occurs. Behavioral observations and disturbance documentation have shown that Whooping cranes respond differently to various disturbances. Although airplane overflights, recreational boating, barge traffic. and workboat activity represent the most frequent disturbances to whooping cranes (22, 19, 14, and 13 %, respectively, of total disturbances), it appears that frequency of occurrence is less important than the disturbance class and distance from the …


Marking Power Lines To Reduce Avian Collision Mortality In The San Luis Valley, Colorado, Wendy M. Brown, Roderick C. Drewien Jan 1992

Marking Power Lines To Reduce Avian Collision Mortality In The San Luis Valley, Colorado, Wendy M. Brown, Roderick C. Drewien

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

We examined the effectiveness of 2 marking devices designed to increase visibility of power lines and reduce avian collision mortality during spring and fall migration periods, 1988-91, in the San Luis Valley, Colorado. Eight O.8-km segments of power line were marked with either yellow spiral vibration dampers or yellow fiberglass swinging plates and compared with 8 adjoining unmarked segments. Primary species groups studied included cranes (Grus canadensis and G. americana), Canada geese (Branta canadensis), and ducks (various Anatinae). Raptors, shorebirds, wading birds, and passerines were also monitored. Both marker types reduced avian collision mortality by …


Contaminants In Habitat, Tissues, And Eggs Of Whooping Cranes, James C. Lewis, Roderick C. Drewien, Ernie Kuyt, Charles Sanchez Jr. Jan 1992

Contaminants In Habitat, Tissues, And Eggs Of Whooping Cranes, James C. Lewis, Roderick C. Drewien, Ernie Kuyt, Charles Sanchez Jr.

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Sampling of contaminants in the principal habitat areas of whooping cranes (Grus americana) of both the Rocky Mountain and the Aransas/Wood Buffalo National Park whooping crane populations began in the mid-1980's. Contaminants in eggs and tissues of whooping cranes were sampled opportunistically since the 1960's. Chlorinated hydrocarbons existed in low levels in the environment. Some trace elements including aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper. mercury, selenium, and zinc are of sufficient abundance to justify continued monitoring. Declines over time in residues of DDT and mercury in tissues and eggs reflected the prohibition in use of these as pesticides or …


Using National Wetlands Inventory Maps To Quantify Whooping Crane Stopover Habitat In Oklahoma, Dale W. Stahlecker Jan 1992

Using National Wetlands Inventory Maps To Quantify Whooping Crane Stopover Habitat In Oklahoma, Dale W. Stahlecker

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Three stratified random samples of the 416 National Wetland Inventory (NWI) maps within the western Oklahoma portion of the Wood Buffalo-Aransas whooping crane (Grus americana) migration corridor were used to evaluate the availability of wetland roost sites. Wetlands were eliminated as potential roosts if visibility was obscured by vegetation or slope, or if certain human activities occurred within 100-800 m. Thirty percent of all wetlands >0.04 ha passed map review, but only 7% passed when ground truthed. NWI map review was a poor predictor of suitability (33 % correct) but a good predictor of unsuitability (97 % correct). …