Description

The Whooping Crane is one the most easily identified endangered species in North America.  With its long neck and legs, a Whooping Crane can reach a height of 1.5 metres, making it the tallest bird on the continent.  Its wingspan is an impressive two metres ending in tips of black.  Adult Whooping Cranes are white with a red crown.  They have black legs and a black stripe that runs from their bill to their neck along the lower cheek. Photo credit:  Canadian Wildlife Service

Distribution

Historically, the Whooping Cranes' summer breeding range extended from the southern NWT down through the Great Plains.  Their wintering grounds were located in Texas, Louisiana, and northern Mexico.  Currently, Whooping Cranes are limited to summer breeding grounds in the Sass River area of northern Wood Buffalo National Park.  Their present wintering grounds are in the Aransas National Wildlife Reserve in Texas.

NOTE: Click on map for full view. Distributions are approximate and not intended for legal use. (JPG = 1995 KB)

Population Size and Trends

There have never been huge numbers of Whooping Cranes.  In the 1700s, the Whooping Crane population was estimated at 1,500 birds.  The population declined rapidly from 1870 to 1900 due to a loss of breeding grounds.  Whooping Crane breeding grounds disappeared as the wetlands on the Great Plains were drained for agricultural use.  The population decline continued until 1941, when the migratory flock was reduced to just 15 birds.  Through the intervention of the Canadian Wildlife Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the cranes have slowly recovered.  The current Whooping Crane population is 140 birds.

Whooping Cranes are wetland birds.  They spend the summer breeding season in swampy areas.  On the fall southern migration, the cranes stop in Saskatchewan where they feed on grain around sloughs and marshes.  On their winter range, cranes can be found on inland tidal marshes and tidal mud flats.

Wild Whooping Cranes are believed to live up to 20 years of age.  They are sexually mature at about age five. They mate for life but will take a new mate if their current partner dies.  The cranes get their name from their courtship ritual, which involves bobbing, jumping and a distinctive whooping call.  Whooping Cranes generally lay two eggs but the chicks compete for food and usually only one chick survives to fledge.  In breeding season, the cranes feed on berries, insects, snails, small fish and, sometimes, carrion.  On their wintering grounds the cranes feed on crustaceans and other invertebrates found on the tidal flats.

The main factor limiting the Whooping Crane is the size and location of its wintering grounds.  Whooping Cranes each require a minimum territory, which they guard.  Calculations show that the Aransas Reserve could only sustain a wintering population of 200 cranes.  It is impossible to extend the size of the refuge because it is surrounded by concentrated human development.  There are also potential environmental problems for the cranes.  The Aransas Reserve lies in one of the busiest oil transport corridors in the world.  A major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could wipe out the migratory flock.  Very few cranes are lost each year to accidents such as collisions with power lines or the occasional mistaken hunter.  But even these rare occurrences can have a drastic effect on the small population due to the crane’s low reproductive rate.

Whooping Cranes are protected in Canada and the United States under the Migratory Birds Convention Act of 1917.  Both the breeding and wintering grounds are in protected wildlife refuges or national parks.  In the United States, the Whooping Crane is protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973. COSEWIC designated the Whooping Crane as Endangered in Canada in 1978.

In 1985, the American and Canadian governments signed a memorandum of understanding on the Conservation of the Whooping Crane.  This agreement led to the development of a National Recovery Plan for the Whooping Crane.  Under the plan, Canada agreed to increase the number of pairs breeding in Wood Buffalo National Park to 40 and to increase the migratory population to 140 birds.  The plan calls for these two goals to be met by the year 2000 and maintained for at least ten years.  The plan also calls for the protection of the Whooping Cranes and critical habitat around Wood Buffalo National Park and along the migratory corridor.  Research programs conducted during the past decade include population studies in the breeding areas and the banding of chicks.  Data collected in the population studies included clutch size, egg viability and family movements after hatching.  Habitat studies that looked at the effects of water level on Whooping Crane breeding success and the abundance of their food supply have also been conducted.

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       Site last updated Tuesday, November 04, 2008