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Grus americana (Linnaeus, 1758)
Whooping Crane
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: No Georgia state protection
Global Rank: G1
State Rank: S1
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: Yes
SWAP 2015 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
SWAP 2025 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
2025 SGCN Priority Tier: High Conservation Concern
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 0
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Open,mostly emergent herbaceous freshwater wetlands and fields for stop-over sites
The whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America at nearly five feet in height. Its long neck, wings, and legs complement its slender body, which widens to a bustle of feathers at the tail. Neck, cheeks, body, and wings of adults are bright white, with black wingtips and dark gray to black legs. The bill is long, grayish, and dagger-like. Eyes are bright yellow in color. A broad, red to black stripe extends from the front of the eye downward to the side of throat. A red crown stretches from the base of the bill to the top of the head and a black stripe extends from the terminus of the red crown to the nape. Immature birds are white with black wingtips and rust coloring on the head and neck, and often the upper wings.
The wood stork (Mycteria americana) looks similar to the whooping crane, since it is a large white wading bird with black wingtips. However, its entire head is gray with a very large, stout, down-curved bill. The entire trailing edge of the wing of the wood stork is black, whereas only about 1/3 of the wing (the primary feathers) of the whooping crane is black. Another species that appears similar to the whooping crane is the great egret (Ardea alba), which is completely white, except for its yellow bill and black legs.
Nesting occurs in shallow herbaceous wetlands (bulrushes, cattails, sedges, grasses, and other aquatic plants) within prairies, grasslands, or poorly drained areas. During migration this species tends to use shallow river flats but can also be found in agricultural fields. Preferred wintering sites include mainly Gulf Coastal brackish marshes and estuaries, herbaceous freshwater wetlands, and agricultural landscapes with adequate food resources.
Whooping cranes feed by probing into loose, sandy, or flooded soil and by gleaning food from the surface of vegetation they can reach while standing on the ground. They are omnivorous, eating aquatic insects, terrestrial insects such as grasshoppers and crickets, waste grain, acorns, roots and tubers, clams, crayfish, crabs, minnows, frogs, snakes, small flightless birds, mice, and voles.
This species is monogamous, forming life-long pair bonds. However, if one of the pair dies the other will often find another mate. Pair formation is a lengthy process, often occurring over several winters starting when birds are 2-3 years old. Breeding does not usually occur until birds are at least four years old and is generally not successful until birds are at least five years old. Pair bonds are established and maintained by a series of elaborate courtship behaviors including vocalizations, ritualized displays, and dances. By April whooping cranes return to the breeding grounds, usually nesting within the same territory or area as the previous year. Both adults defend the nesting territory against other whooping cranes. The nest is constructed by the female in shallow water from herbaceous vegetation (e.g., bulrushes, cattails, sedges) found adjacent to the nest site. She pulls this plant material under her body while lying on the ground, creating a mound which she then compacts by trampling the surface with her feet. A slight depression is made in the middle of the nest to hold the eggs. Most often 2 eggs (range 1-3 eggs) are laid at two-day intervals and incubated for 29-35 days before they hatch. Young are precocial, able to walk and swim hours after hatching. Chicks are able to fly about 80 days after hatching. Adults care for young until they are 10-11 months old. Migration routes are learned and both migratory and non-migratory populations existed historically with several migratory routes known from the 1800s. Many of these routes followed those of sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis). The easternmost of these routes crossed the Appalachian Mountains to wintering sites along the Atlantic Coast including coastal New Jersey, South Carolina, and river deltas further south (e.g., Savannah River, Altamaha River). These birds likely nested in the Hudson Bay area of Canada. Coastal Louisiana was home to both a wintering population of migratory whooping cranes as well as a non-migratory population.
No formal surveys are necessary in Georgia at present. Valid sighting should be documented and disseminated to appropriate DNR and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) law enforcement personnel and biologists, as well as Wildlife Conservation Section staff maintaining the Biotics database.
In the mid-1800s the whooping crane’s main breeding range extended from central Illinois northwest through northern Iowa, southern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota, northeast North Dakota, southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan to near Edmonton, Alberta. Likely preferred breeding habitat was tall and mixed grass prairie marshes. A disjunct breeding population nested in the Great Slave Lake region of the Northwest Territories. A resident population was discovered in 1939 in southwestern Louisiana. Documented wintering locations included the Gulf Coast from the Rio Grande delta to Florida and the Atlantic Coast from Florida to New Jersey, including the Savannah and Altamaha River deltas and St. Simons Island in Georgia. Additional wintering sites likely included prairies along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Northeast Mexico, interior tablelands in west Texas, and high plateaus of central Mexico south to Jalisco and Guanajuato. Presently, the western migratory population breeds in Wood Buffalo National Park and vicinity in northwestern Canada and winters at and near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge along the Gulf Coast of Texas. This is the only self-sustaining population. In 1975, wild whooping crane eggs from Wood Buffalo National Park were transferred to greater sandhill crane nests at Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho in an effort to establish a second migratory population. While the greater sandhill crane foster parents were often successful hatching and raising young whooping cranes, this effort ultimately failed because the whooping cranes would not pair with one another and the mortality rate was too high for this small population to be self-sustaining. A non-migratory population was introduced into the Kissimmee Prairie region of Florida from 1993 through 2004, when biologists released 289 captive-raised whooping cranes. Problems with survival, reproduction, and other issues led to curtailment of this introduction program. Only about 14 birds survive from this effort today. An additional non-migratory population was introduced into Louisiana in 2011 and appears to be doing well. In 2001, introduction of an eastern migratory population was initiated and from 2001-2015 captively reared young were taught to follow ultralight aircraft (Operation Migration) from breeding grounds in Wisconsin (Necedah NWR) to wintering grounds in Florida (Chassahowitzka NWR). Some of these birds now breed in Wisconsin and winter in Florida, northern Alabama, Tennessee, and occasionally in South Georgia.
This species was on the brink of extinction by the early 1940s with only 15-16 individuals remaining. Fewer than 12 individuals, and more likely 6-8 individuals, comprised the entire breeding population at that time. These small numbers likely created a genetic bottleneck, which probably limits genetic diversity and resilience of the species. Captive breeding efforts have attempted to increase genetic diversity through selective crossbreeding; however, genetic diversity is still likely very limited. Accidental and intentional shooting is a significant mortality factor that has been impacting the eastern migratory population of this species for years with approximately 20% of birds in this flock being shot. Collisions with powerlines and other manmade structures is also a cause for concern given the very small population size. Losing even a few birds from this population can have a serious impact on recovery efforts. Predation, particularly by bobcats (Lynx rufus), has resulted in significant losses of young birds as well as some adult birds. This has occurred on the breeding grounds, at stop-over sites, and on wintering grounds. Pesticides poisoning of whooping cranes feeding in agricultural areas could be a serious threat as could ingestion of aflatoxins from waste grain consumption. Many of these birds, including some in Georgia, use agricultural habitats during migration or winter, making this a very real threat. Petrochemical spills are a big threat at Aransas NWR, since much of the whooping crane habitat is located along a stretch of the Intercoastal Waterway where large quantities of these chemicals are transported in barges.
| Threat 1 | Threat 2 | Threat 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Threat | Transportation & service corridors | Biological resource use | Climate change & severe weather |
| Specific Threat | Utility & service lines | Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals | Habitat shifting & alteration |
Whooping cranes regularly travel through Georgia during migration and a small number of individuals have been documented wintering in the southern portion of the state.
Whooping crane numbers have increased significantly over the past several decades, from the 15 or so birds that remained during the species’ low point in the 1940s, to a total population of approximately 600 individuals today (approximately 440 birds in the wild and 160 birds in captivity). Intensive conservation efforts, including an aggressive captive breeding program, are responsible for this success. The Whooping Crane Recovery Plan recommends that in order for whooping cranes to be "down-listed" from endangered to threatened status, there must be 40 nesting pairs in the current self-sustaining population (Wood Buffalo National Park-Aransas NWR) and 25 nesting pairs in each of two additional locations, or 100 nesting pairs in the current self-sustaining population and 30 nesting pairs in one additional location. The reintroductions in Idaho, Florida, Wisconsin, and Louisiana represent efforts to establish additional populations. Sightings of whooping cranes in Georgia, particularly those of wintering birds, should be disseminated to appropriate state and federal conservation law enforcement personnel and DNR, Game Management Regional supervisors and Wildlife Conservation Section biologists. Specific information on location of stop-over sites and wintering locations should be guarded to reduce the potential for intentional or unintentional negative interactions with humans. Landowners of stop-over and wintering sites should be notified of the presence of birds as well as legal restrictions to assure the birds remain unharmed. Public Affairs staff of DNR and USFWS should be involved with cautious dissemination of information about whooping cranes, including details of birds seen in the state, when this information is suitable for release to the public and will not potentially compromise or imperil any whooping cranes.
Allen, R. P. 1952. The Whooping Crane. National Audubon Society Resource Report 3, New York, NY.
Bent, A. C. 1926. Life histories of North American marsh birds. U. S. National Museum Bulletin 135:219-231.
Bishop, M. A., and D. R. Blankinship. 1982. Dynamics of subspecies flocks of Whooping Cranes at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas, 1978-1981. Pp. 180-189 in Proceedings of the 1981 International Crane Workshop (J. C. Lewis, ed.). National Audubon Society, Tavernier, FL.
Blankinship, D. R., 1976. Studies of Whooping Cranes on the wintering grounds. Pp. 197-206 in Proceedings of the International Crane Workshop (J. C. Lewis, ed.). Oklahoma State University Press, Stillwater, OK.
Ellis, D. H., J. C. Lewis, G. F. Gee, and D. G. Smith.1992. Population recovery of the Whooping Crane with emphasis on reintroduction efforts: Past and future. Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop 6:142-150.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. 2018. Whooping Crane. http://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/birds/ (Accessed 26 June 2018).
Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb .1995. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Pres, Oxford, UK.
Hunt, H.E. 1987. The effects of burning and grazing on habitat use by Whooping Cranes and Sandhill Cranes on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Ph.D. dissertation. Texas A & M. University, College Station, TX.
Kuyt, E. 1976. Whooping Cranes: the long road back. Nat. Canada. 5:2-9.
Kuyt, E. 1981. Population status, nest site fidelity, and breeding habitat of Whooping Cranes. Pp. 119-125 in Crane Research Around the World (J. C. Lewis and H. Masatomi, eds.). International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, WI.
Lewis, J. C. 1995. Whooping Crane (Grus americana). In The Birds of North America, No. 153 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, DC.
Martin, A. C., H. S. Zim, and A. L. Nelson. 1951. American Wildlife and Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, NY.
Nesbitt, S. A., M. J. Folk, K. A. Sullivan, S. T. Schwikert, and M. G. Spalding. 2001. An update of the Florida whooping crane release project through June 2000. Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop 8:62-73.
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1994. Whooping Crane Recovery Plan. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Albuquerque, NM.
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2018. Whooping Crane Fact Sheet. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Region, North Florida Ecological Services Office. https://www.fws.gov/northflorida/WhoopingCrane/whoopingcrane-fact-2001.htm (Accessed 25 June 2018).
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. 2018. http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/ (Accessed 26 June 2018).
Todd M. Schneider
12-10-2018