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Whooping Crane

The Whooping Crane (Grus americana) might be one of the best known endangered species on our continent. As with other endangered species, the saga of the Whooping Crane is a dramatic one.

Whooping Crane (Courtesy NEBRASKAland Magazine/NGPC)

Range
The Whooping Crane once had a range extending throughout the middle of this continent. (See the sections on Conservation and Management and Population Status for details.) But due to loss of its habitat, the Whooping Crane is now one of the rarest birds in North America.

Description
Whooping Cranes are the tallest birds in North America. Males stand nearly five feet tall with a wingspan up to seven and a half feet. Males can weigh 16 pounds. Female cranes average 14 pounds.

Despite their size, cranes average a flight speed of about 45 kilometers per hour (about 28 miles per hour).

Their body plumage is mostly snow white, with wing tips that are black. (The wing tips are visible only when the wings are extended.)The top of the head is covered with reddish-black bristly feathers.

The Whooping Crane is the only large, white bird with a wingspan of seven and a half feet that flies with its neck and legs outstretched.

Click on image to enlarge

Habitat
In Nebraska, migrating Whooping Cranes stopover to store up energy. They most often use riverine (riverbank) sites for roosting but will also use wetland sites in areas where large river channels are not present.

Roost sites are usually wide open river channels or open water areas in wetlands with clear views and no human disturbance.

These rare birds depend heavily on the diverse, productive wetland ecosystems that still remain in Nebraska. The Wood Buffalo/Aransas population of cranes uses nesting habitat that contains marshes, shallow ponds, small creeks and patches of wooded terrain and shrubs.

Their winter habitat consists of salt or brackish shallow bays, tidal marshes, tidal flats, freshwater upland ponds and grassland.

Life History
Whooping Cranes usually begin forming pairs when they're two to three years old. The pairs are monogamous and mate for life. Pair formation can be a long process that takes up to three winters and involves many elaborate social and maintenance activities.

Experienced breeding pairs arrive at the breeding grounds before less experienced pairs. A typical clutch (brood) contains two eggs, which are incubated for 31 to 35 days.

Chicks are precocial (very independent) after hatching but are brooded (covered with wings) by both adults, especially at night. Most chick deaths occur soon after hatching.

During migration, the principal cause of death is collision with power lines. Other mortality (death) factors include:

• predators
• disease
• severe weather
• shooting
• collision with fences

Peak migration for Nebraska generally occurs around April 12 in the spring and October 27 during fall.

Cranes eat snails, larval insects, leeches, frogs, salamanders, tadpoles, minnows, small rodents, and berries. During migration, they stop to eat aquatic animals, roots of plants and waste grain in stubble fields.

Whooping Cranes can live up to 24 years in the wild.

A group of cranes can be called by several different names. Depending on how poetic you feel, you might refer to them as a construction of cranes, a dance of cranes, a sedge of cranes, a siege of cranes, or a swoop of cranes.