Survival and Sources of Mortality in Florida Sandhill Crane Chicks – Hatching to Fledging

Authors

Stephen A. Nesbitt, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Wildlife Research LaboratoryFollow
Stephen T. Schwikert, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Wildlife Research Laboratory
Marilyn G. Spalding, University of FloridaFollow

Date of this Version

2008

Document Type

Article

Citation

Nesbitt, S.A., S.T. Schwikert, and M.G. Spalding. Survival and sources of mortality in Florida sandhill crane chicks-hatching to fledging. In: Folk, MJ and SA Nesbitt, eds. 2008. Proceedings of the Tenth North American Crane Workshop, Feb. 7-10, 2006, Zacatecas City, Zacatecas, Mexico: North American Crane Working Group. pp. 86-89

Comments

Reproduced by permission of the North American Crane Working Group.

Abstract

Forty-five pairs of Florida sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pratensis) were monitored during the nesting seasons from 1996 through 1999. Thirty-eight chicks were produced from 25 successful nests. Twenty-one of these survived to fledging age. Predation was the source of most (81%) of the mortality for which a cause was determined. Mammals were the primary predator. Average age at time of mortality was 27.2 days for the 17 chicks lost.