Record Number of Whoopers to Texas

A record 270 endangered whooping cranes will spend the winter at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and environs in Texas, up from 266 last year. The only natural wild flock of whooping cranes, the birds nest in the Northwest Territories of Canada and fly 2,500 miles to winter at Aransas Refuge along the Gulf coast.

Forty-one juveniles fledged from the 64 chicks produced in Canada this year, with 38 completing the migration to Texas. Adult mortality, estimated at 13 percent, was extremely high between spring and fall this year, which kept the flock from increasing substantially despite the excellent productivity.

The worldwide population of whooping cranes is now more than 500, up from a low of 15 in 1941. All of the whooping cranes alive today are descendants of those 15, including the captive bred flock now migrating from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin to Chassahowitzka and St. Marks Refuges in Florida.

Whooping cranes mate for life and may survive 30 years in the wild. They travel as singles, pairs, family groups or small flocks and may join up with sandhill cranes. At Aransas Refuge, they eat blue crabs, fiddler crabs, clams, invertebrates and berries, increasing their food intake as spring arrives and they prepare for the long journey back to Canada. The cranes face food shortages in the current winter due to ongoing drought.

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