Subject: State Birds & Whooping Crane status
Date: May 9 09:09:44 2000
From: ragweed at igc.org - ragweed at igc.org


Oh, come on Michelle. With enough chili and beer you can convince
a Texan of anything.

I'm personally more worried about the folks in Maine. You want
to see folks who don't like outsiders telling them what to do.
Shoot, with Texans they'll yell and hollar and run you out of
town with their shotguns, but at least they'll engage you. Try
to convince a down-easterner of something and all you get back
is "nope".

On a more serious note, the March 2000 EarthWatch Institute
Journal has an article about the Whooping Crane restoration
effort. They list the world status of the Whooping Crane, as
of August 1999:

199 at Aransas NWR (including birds of the year)
4 "left in Rocky Mountains" (I did not find any other
details on this)
70 in established non-migratory population in central Florida
70 at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel Maryland
36 at International Crane Foundation
23 at Calgary Zoo
10 at 4 other zoos

Totals - 273 wild cranes, 139 captive.

However, I visited the crane migration website and they listed
only 164 or so that had made it to the nesting grounds in Alberta.
The migration apparently does have a fair amount of mortality.

The Florida population is being established as a hedge against
anything happening to the migratory flock. I believe there was
historically a wild non-migratory population in the area as well.
It is doing OK, but suffers from relatively high predation by
Bobcats, mainly on the newly released birds.

Incidentally, I believe I saw a pair of Whoopers several years
ago. It was on a trip to Glacier and then Yellowstone National
Parks, somewhere in Wyoming, I think. It was before I was really
seriously keeping a life list, and for some bizarre sick reason
I didn't stop and confirm it. We were running late to our next
campground or something, and there were several cars on the
road behind us, on a 2-lane road with no real shoulder. Julia
was driving, and I saw two giant birds down in a little dip in the
hills. I thougt they were probably Sandhill Cranes, and it just
didn't seem like we could really stop. Later I checked the field
guide and decided they must have been Whoopers.

I kick myself now for not stopping. There's a little too much
doubt about my ID for me to put it on my life-list, and I suspect
that it will be a long time before I see another one.

John Chapman
Seattle, Washington
ragweed at igc.org


MBlanchrd at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 5/5/00 4:05:55 PM PST, ragweed at igc.org writes:

> The Whooper is a good idea too - and maybe it would help make
> it a more of a point of pride in Texas to save them if they
> are the state bird.

The hard part is going to be selling it to the Texans. Having lived there for
several years, I can tell you right now that they're a proud bunch, and if us
"Yankees" ("""damn" Yankees are Yankees who move to Texas and stay there"")
tell them, "look, we think it's a good idea for you Texans to name the
Whooping Crane as your state bird", they may just go out and kill every
Whooper in the state just for spite. (I AM being facetious,
but..........sometimes,.......).

So we need to convince them it was their idea the whole time, and they'll
maybe buy it.

Michelle
MBlanchrd at aol.com
Oly WA