The COVID-19 pandemic is drastically reducing the number of young whooping cranes to be released this fall to help bring back the world’s rarest cranes. Zoos and other places where the endangered birds are bred have had to cut not only staff size but use of two techniques to boost the birds’ numbers
Disease outbreaks or extreme weather could cause a catastrophic loss of the crane’s current population, according to the study.
Five chicks are the most to hatch in one year in the nascent project, which launched in 2011.
Two captive-reared young males draw birdwatchers to the Minnesota River bottoms in the metro area.
The whoopers that do make their way through North Dakota are part of a population of about 400 birds that are on their way from wintering grounds at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas to their nesting grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada, a distance of about 2,500 miles. Anyone seeing these endangered birds as they move through the state is asked to report sightings so the birds can be tracked.
Indiana and Alabama are the only two states that have outreach programs to educate residents about whooping cranes.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Two endangered whooping cranes have bird enthusiasts searching all over north Florida for a glimpse of the rare, elusive birds. The Gainesville Sun reports that the Alachua Audubon Society is holding its Christmas Bird Count on Sunday, and that participants are especially looking for the whooping cranes, which are an endangered species
NEW ORLEANS — A dozen young whooping cranes from Wisconsin, Maryland, and Alberta, Canada, are being gradually introduced to the wild in a Louisiana refuge. The Audubon Species Survival Center’s assistant curator, Richard Dunn, says Tuesday was a big day. He brought the rare, endangered birds to the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge on the southwest Louisiana
Most whooping cranes are reported in Oklahoma from mid-October through November.
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