Wildlife Spotlight: Whooping Crane
Nearly 5 feet tall with a wingspan of 7 to 8 feet, the dramatic white
whooping crane is named for its shrill bugle-like call. They fly with
slow wing beats and with necks and legs fully extended. In whooping
cranes "dancing," a dramatic display of leaping, twirling, and wing
flapping, is used to signal danger, territoriality, behavioral compatibility,
and perhaps just to let off steam. In China and Japan, cranes are symbols
of long life, grace, and fidelity.
Once very close to extinction, the whooping crane, the tallest bird
in North America, is making a comeback. Loss of habitat from drainage,
hunting, egg collecting, and collisions with power lines reduced the
whooping crane population in the wild to as few as 15 individuals.
Since 1980 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has
been actively involved in efforts to restore the whooping crane
population to the southeastern United States. In 1993 and 1994,
captive-raised, non-migrating whooping cranes were released on Three
Lakes. During each of these years, two-thirds of the birds died, largely from bobcat predation.
In 1995 the introduction sites were changed to neighboring private lands
with habitats (marsh and pasture) more suited for cranes than bobcats.
A major milestone in crane recovery occurred in the spring of 2000.
On March 16 and 18, a pair of whooping cranes hatched their two eggs.
The chicks were the fist whooping cranes hatched in the wild in more
than 60 years. Although raised in captivity, the parents knew exactly
what to do: at first they fed the tiny chicks crayfish, small frogs,
and aquatic insects. As the chicks grew, their parents added snakes
and aquatic salamanders to their diet. At about 10 days of age, one
of the chicks disappeared. A bobcat killed the remaining chick shortly
after it learned to fly. In spite of these losses, FWC biologist and
director of the non-migratory whooping crane program Stephen Nesbitt
considers the 2000 season a resounding success: it demonstrated that
cranes raised in captivity can pair bond, lay and hatch eggs, and successfully
care for their young.
Today the central Florida whooping crane population is estimated to
be between 80 and 87 individuals. A substantial number of these (35-40)
use the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, especially in the vicinity
of Lake Jackson. Whooping cranes are long lived (in the wild at least
22 years and perhaps up to 40 years), and biologists remain confident
that they will in time successfully reproduce in the wild in Florida.
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