Two leading bird conservation groups, American Bird Conservancy and the International Crane Foundation, have sent a joint letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) voicing strong concerns about renewed consideration of the Merricourt wind energy project in North Dakota.
Category: Whooping Crane
Lessons from the Passenger Pigeon’s Extinction
On September 1st we will observe the 100 year anniversary of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. Just a few decades after the Passenger Pigeon’s demise, another North American bird species, the Whooping Crane, declined to just 21 birds in the wild. Loss of habitat and hunting pressures nearly caused the same fate as the Passenger Pigeon’s.
DAR Whooping Cranes Are Headed to Louisiana
The four Direct Autumn Release (DAR) Whooping Crane chicks are headed to Louisiana! This year’s DAR chicks will be released in the non-migratory Whooping Crane population at the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area in southwest Louisiana instead of with the eastern migratory population (WCEP population) in central Wisconsin.
Appeals Court Reverses Decision for Whooping Cranes in Texas
The International Crane Foundation is disappointed that earlier this week the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision that mandated fresh-water inflows to Whooping Crane habitat on the Texas coast. The three judge panel held that legal aspects of the Endangered Species Act were misapplied in the lower court decision, when it found that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was liable for the deaths of 23 Whooping Cranes in 2008-2009.
Egg Score Card 2014
ICF’s captive Whooping Cranes are laying eggs – breeding season is here! A tradition at ICF is to follow our “Egg Score Card,” which tracks the Whooping Crane eggs from our captive flock, as well as wild Whooping Crane nests in Wisconsin.
USFWS Announces 2013 Shooting of Whooping Crane in Wisconsin
Wisconsin is home to a long legacy of ethical hunters and bird enthusiasts that dates back to before Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac of the mid-1900s. In the spirit of Leopold’s land ethic, we need your help.
Notes from the President
I would have failed photography school. Whenever I find myself in the exotic crane places of the world, I am flanked by photographers who are able to capture the elegance and excitement – the pure charisma – of cranes in the most breathtaking ways. My camera, however, tends to focus less on the dramatic beauty and more on the menacing threats to the crane world. A Blue Crane roosting under a big, ugly powerline – click! A Wattled Crane struggling to feed on a parched, dusty floodplain – snap!
First Whooping Crane of the Season Hatches at Necedah Refuge
The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership and staff at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin are celebrating the first wild Whooping Crane chick of the 2014 season. The chick represents the latest success in the effort to sustain a wild migratory population of endangered Whooping Cranes in eastern North America.
Travels with George: Texas 2014
Late February brought me to Texas to attend three evening functions in Houston and then to participate in the Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas, beside the Gulf of Mexico about 200 miles southwest of Houston.
Texas Whooping Crane Wintering Area May be Affected by Oil Spill
ICF is concerned about the Kirby Inland Marine oil spill that occurred in Galveston Bay, Texas on March 22. If prevailing winds and currents drive the oil spill southwest along the Texas coast, there may be a possible landfall of spilled oil along Matagorda Island and adjacent bays later this week. This could potentially put the endangered Whooping Crane at risk.