[mou] Canadian/Texas whooping crane report (long)

[Robert_Russell at fws.gov]

Here's an update from Tom Stehn (USFWS) and Brian Johns (Canadian Wildlife
Services) on the Alberta whooping crane population.  At least one pair of
the Wisconsin whoopers has not been located recently and may be summering
outside the core area in C Wisconsin.  Keep your eyes open as birds in
previous years have summered in C Minnesota and NW Wisconsin.  Bob Russell,
USFWS
                                                                                         
 Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 10:58:45 -0500                                                    
 >                                                                                       
 > WHOOPING CRANE UPDATE                                                                 
 >                                 August, 2007                                          
 >                                                                                       
 > Aransas National Wildlife Refuge                                                      
 >                                                                                       
 > An  aerial  survey  conducted  August 3rd, 2007 at Aransas did not find               
 any                                                                                     
 > whooping  cranes.   This  confirmed  that  the juvenile “Lobstick”                    
 > whooping crane  injured  in  the  spring  of 2005 at Aransas has                      
 apparently made its                                                                     
 > first  migration  north  ever.   It  had spent the 2005 and 2006 summers              
 at                                                                                      
 > Aransas.   It  had  last  been seen in a trio of cranes at Aransas the                
 last                                                                                    
 > week  in  April,  2007.  A whooping crane reported in mid-June on                     
 Matagorda                                                                               
 > Island  was  not  located on the August 3rd flight.  It had also                      
 apparently                                                                              
 > migrated.                                                                             
 >                                                                                       
 >                                                                                       
 > Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada                                                    
 >                                                                                       
 > In May, Brian Johns and Lea Craig-Moore of the Canadian Wildlife Service              
 > (CWS) located 62 nests on breeding pair surveys in Wood Buffalo National              
 > Park (WBNP), Canada.  The 62 nests found were the same number found in                
 > 2006.                                                                                 
 >                                                                                       
 > USFWS Region II Pilot Jim Bredy along with Brian Johns and Tom Stehn                  
 > conducted whooping crane production surveys June 13-18, 2007 in a                     
 > Partenavia twin-engine aircraft.  Three additional nests were located on              
 > the June surveys.  The surveys located a record 65 nests and record 84                
 > chicks, including 28 sets of twins.  This compared with 76 chicks                     
 including                                                                               
 > 24 sets of twins in 2006.  The surveys were timed soon after most of the              
 > chicks had hatched to try to maximize the number of chicks observed.                  
 >                                                                                       
 > Fifty-six of the 65 nests (86.2%) produced one or more chicks.  This is a             
 > very high percentage and comparable to other excellent production years               
 (3%                                                                                     
 > in 2005, 85% in 2004 and 86% in 1997).  One pair was still sitting on eggs            
 > at the end of the June surveys, but the eggs were overdue and not expected            
 > to hatch.  Of the 9 pairs that failed to hatch an egg, 2 of those pairs               
 had                                                                                     
 > their eggs predated in May and one bird was sitting on a nest with no                 
 eggs.                                                                                   
 >                                                                                       
 > Thus, of the pairs that potentially could have had chicks in June, 56 of              
 > the 62 actually did.  Thus, the record chick production in 2007 resulted              
 > from both high productivity and a large number of nests.  Two pairs that              
 > are well known at Aransas (Lobstick and Big Tree) both had twin chicks in             
 > June.                                                                                 
 >                                                                                       
 > An estimated 4 known adult pairs failed to nest but were sighted present              
 on                                                                                      
 > their territories, comparable to the 10 pairs that failed to nest in 2006.            
 > Thus, there are a minimum of 69 breeding pairs in the population.  This               
 > number of adult pairs was close to the 67 adult pairs identified present              
 at                                                                                      
 > Aransas during the 2006-07 winter.                                                    
 >                                                                                       
 > Habitat conditions in Wood Buffalo were better than expected with water               
 > levels thought to be slightly above average.  Two wildfires in the                    
 southern                                                                                
 > part of the park in mid-June totaled about 120,000 hectares in size. The              
 > weather during the June production surveys was exceptionally warm with no             
 > cold, wet weather.  If such weather continues, it should favor survival of            
 > the young chicks.  CWS will conduct surveys in mid-August to see how many             
 > juveniles have fledged.                                                               
 >                                                                                       
 > Tom Stehn                                                                             
 > August 6, 2007                                                                        
                                                                                         
                                                                                         
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