• Originally published July 11, 2008 at 11:13 p.m., updated July 11, 2008 at 11:13 p.m.

Baby whooping cranes entered the endangered species population after hatching in mid-June.

Aerial surveys from June 17 to 22 revealed 64 whooping crane chicks hatched from a record 66 nests in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada, according to an e-mail from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The hatchlings include 12 sets of twins. Last year’s surveys revealed 28 sets of twins with 84 chicks hatching from 65 nests.

With an estimated 72 breeding pairs, the whooping crane flock that migrates from Wood Buffalo to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge could see a winter increase to more than 280 birds, whooping crane coordinator Tom Stehn said.

This would beat last year’s record number of 266 cranes. Stehn, pilot-biologist Jim Bredy and biologist Brian Johns with the Canadian Wildlife Service spotted about 165 cranes out of the total population, the e-mail stated.

Three pairs of cranes sat on overdue eggs by the end of the survey, the e-mail stated. Fourteen nests failed to produce chicks.

Only 16 whooping cranes existed in 1941. The count would have to reach 1,000 cranes to downgrade to the threatened list.

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• Post a Comment
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •