Whooping Crane Observation Form

If you've seen whooping cranes in the blue states, continue with this observation form. For the brown states, go to http://www.whoopingcrane.com/wccareport.htm.

If you've seen whooping cranes in the eastern U.S., please submit your observation using the form below.

If you have seen whooping cranes in the western U.S., you may go to http://www.whoopingcrane.com/wccareport.htm to report your sighting. If the birds you report are actually eastern birds that have wandered west of our project area, rest assured that we will still receive your sighting.

Thank you!

When you are lucky enough to see whooping cranes, please do not approach them closely, even in a vehicle, to avoid habituating the birds to human presence. Habituation is one of the greatest dangers that whooping cranes face because it puts them at greater risk from vehicle collisions, predation, and illegal shooting.

State   State Name Alabama Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee Vermont Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin       County  

Additional Location Information: If you have any information that would help us pinpoint the location, please include it here. For example; nearest town and distance and direction from that town; nearest road and/or road intersection; GPS coordinates; landowner; or Township, Range, and Section.

(Month Day, Year) for example: June 3, 2007

for example: 7:30 am

Please provide a description of what you saw. Include the type of habitat (i.e., marsh, stream, harvested corn field, etc.), whether any of the whooping cranes were immature, whether there were sandhill cranes nearby, if so - how many, if the whooping cranes were flying, feeding, or loafing, and any other information that you think may be useful or interesting.

NOTE: If your sighting was in Florida, be aware that Florida non-migratory whooping cranes may also carry bands that are orange, yellow, blue, black or gray.

Photo Available?

Yes
No

If you were able to see any leg bands on the whooping crane(s), please continue with the form before submitting. However, if you were not able to see leg bands, click on the submit button.

If you saw bands on the bird's legs, let us know the band color combinations.  Even incomplete records of color combinations may be valuable as they could allow us to narrow down which crane was sighted. 

Each leg has one to three colored leg bands. The bands are red, green, or white. For each whooping crane that you saw leg bands, tell us on which leg you saw the bands (right or left), how many bands on that leg, and the color and placement of each band.

Click here for photos and examples of how to report leg bands on whooping cranes.