Winter 1999

[TEXT ARCHIVE WEB-PUBLISHED MARCH 2002.
ORIGINAL PRINT PUBLICATION DATE: WINTER 1999.]

Whooping Big Bird Story

By Sheryl De Vore

Midwesterners wanting to see the federally endangered whooping crane plan trips to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas where the world's nearly 200 remaining wild birds spend their winters after breeding in Canada.

Experienced birders Robert Hughes and Bob Erickson of Chicago, however, had to go no farther than Illinois Beach State Park in Zion to see this spectacular bird. Standing along the Lake Michigan shoreline on Nov. 11, 1998, Bob Hughes panned the sky with his camera as a flock of sandhill cranes flew by. Just above, he noticed a white crane with black primary feathers and black legs. "It's a whooping crane," he shouted, clicking photographs. Erickson, with binoculars poised, also saw the bird.

The last verified sighting of a whooping crane in Illinois occurred in 1958 when an adult was seen and photographed in Pike County. The bird fed in a cornfield near a slough from October 16 to November 5, according to H. David Bohlen's book, The Birds of Illinois.

In the late 1800s, the whooping crane was considered common in Illinois during migration along the Illinois River and more thinly settled portions of the state. Whoopers originally bred in prairie marshes from central Illinois northwestward to North Dakota and into Canada. They still bred in Glenview, IL in the mid-1800s, when young naturalist Robert Kennicott found a nest.

Today, only one breeding population of whooping cranes exists in the wild.

"The current migration path runs on a fairly straight line from Wood Buffalo National Park (its breeding range in Canada) to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (its wintering grounds on the Texas Gulf Coast)," says Gordon Dietzman, Manager of the Education Program and Resources at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

"The migratory route of this population is fairly constricted on a longi- tudinal basis. They don't seem to deviate from this path by more than 100 miles or so," he says. "This route is about 600 to 700 miles west of Illinois."

Dietzman speculates that hurricane force winds found over much of the Midwest a few days before the sighting may have driven whooping cranes toward Illinois. "These winds were a very unusual occurrence so we should not be surprised to see wildlife react in an unpredictable manner," he says.

In five to ten years, whooping cranes might start visiting Illinois a little more often. That's because the Whooping Crane Recovery Team is concerned that as long as these cranes use only one breeding area and one wintering area, this species could be lost in the wild. Work is underway to establish additional populations. The beginning of a non-migratory flock has been established in central Florida. The recovery team has recommended Wisconsin as the next site for the restoration of whooping cranes, pending a habitat analysis, says Dietzman. "These birds would be taught to migrate to a wintering area in Florida. Their migratory path will probably take them through Illinois," and the Chicago Wilderness region. Reintroductions could begin within the next four-to-five years.

A combination of habitat loss and human disturbance of breeding areas probably caused the decline of the whooping crane population. In addition, humans shot birds for their feathers, and collectors took their eggs. These threats, plus the fact that the whooping crane has a low reproductive rate, resulted in a rapid decline of the species earlier this century. In 1937, only 35 wild whooping cranes remained.

Robert Hughes and Bob Erickson were lucky enough to be there when one whooping crane flew off course. They saw a chance windblown native that one day may return for good.