TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED TO CAPTURE WHOOPING CRANES IN CENTRAL FLORIDA

Authors

MARTIN J. FOLK, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
STEPHEN A. NESBITT, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation CommissionFollow
STEPHEN T. SCHWIKERT, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
JAMES A. SCHMIDT, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
KATHLEEN A. SULLIVAN, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
THOMAS J. MILLER, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
STEPHEN B. BAYNES, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
JEANNETTE M. PARKER, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Date of this Version

2005

Document Type

Article

Citation

Folk, M.J., S.A. Nesbitt, S.T. Schwikert, J.A.Schmidt, K.A. Sullivan, T.J. Miller, S.B. Baynes, and J.M. Parker. Techniques employed to capture whooping cranes in central Florida. In Chavez-Ramirez, F, ed. 2005. Proceedings of the Ninth North American Crane Workshop, Jan 17-20, 2003. Sacramento, California: North American Crane Working Group. Pp. 141-144.

Comments

Reproduced by permission of the NACWG.

Abstract

During the course of re-introduction of a non-migratory flock of whooping cranes to Florida (1993-2002) a variety of techniques were used to capture 105 free-living birds. The most commonly used technique was hand-capture from a feed trough blind (45 birds). Whooping cranes were also captured by use of snares, several types of nets, and by hand. All techniques were relatively safe and posed little risk to the birds, a primary concern when dealing with rare birds. We found it useful to employ a diversity of techniques because some methods work better than others under differing circumstances. Capturing whooping cranes for replacement of radio transmitters is labor intensive and may represent the limiting factor in the successful long-term monitoring of the Florida population.